About 350 guests and employees were present when the last drilling machines broke out of the mountain with the Follobanen’s 20 kilometre long tunnel with two lanes.
‘’Bane Nor, the builders,were well pleased that the tunnel drilling was completed in the agreed time. This is a good result’’ said Birger Steffensen, Assistant Development Director at Bane Nor.
He added that Bane Nor is looking forward to offering half the travel time with the new Follo Line between Oslo and Ski,as the railway investment is important for travellers, growth, and development in the Oslo and Follo region.
Drilling of the 20-kilometre tunnel was started by Prime Minister Erna Solberg and then Minister of Transport and Communications, Ketil Solvik-Olsen, on 5th September 2016.
Inside the mountain between Oslo city center and Ski,tunnel workers have been drilling every day, except Sundays, for four shifts around the clock. At most,1,000 people have participated in the work. Over 100 tunnel workers have been responsible for the drilling with the two machines that came on target on the 26th of February.
A month ago, it was known that the opening of the Follo Line would be postponed by one year until the end of 2022 and that the project would be two billion more expensive than expected.
The Folloban project is part of the Intercity development and will provide eleven minutes of travel time between Oslo and Ski when it is finished, thus halving it.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
