The Minister talked about the Government’s strategy for high-speed trains in Norway. She did not try to hide what kind of impact this can have.

- My heart says yes to high-speed trains in Norway. My brain says we need further research before we can make a decision on whether we will build high-speed networks, she said.

Also in the audience at downtown Hotel Bristol in Oslo were the leader of the parliament’s transport committee, Knut Arild Hareide, and a lot of other people interested in high-speed trains in Norway and Europe.

Carlos Fernandes was invited to talk about the Portuguese investment in high-speed trains. He is a board member at the Portuguese national rail (RAVE), and the Portuguese challenges connected with linking to the central European markets are easy to compare with the Norwegian, as both countries are located on the outskirts of Europe. Mr Fernandes gave a thorough presentation of the processes they have been through whilst developing the high-speed train network in Portugal. There are a number of relevant transfer potentials in how the projects were organised and built with an extensive use of public/private partnership structures. The best result were reduction of the total cost, as well as moving risk from public to private budgets. Fernandes demonstrated the economic benefits and return the high-speed trains will represent for society when they start running in 2013.

From the supplier end, Alstom Transport, one of the leading producers of trains and railway systems in the world, were represented by Mr Lars Kleppe, the Nordic countries director. He spoke about the importance of not letting technology become a limitation, and rather go for solutions that are easy to upgrade as new technology is introduced. Particularly innovation on speed and use of energy will contribute to making trains even more competitive in the future, with better connected regions as the main synergy effect.

Project manager Floire Daub from COINCO North gave a brief introduction to the project that is working for better infrastructure in the corridor between Oslo, Göteborg and Copenhagen. The main focus is on reducing the costs of transactions, making the most out of the region’s special knowledge in different areas in order to create a joint Scandinavian work market.

There is an urgent need to improve the current Inter City systems by getting double tracks. At the same time a concept for high-speed trains is being developed. The vision is to be able to travel by train between Oslo and Copenhagen in 2 hours and 20 minutes before 2025.

In the following panel discussion, Magnhild Meltveit Kleppa and Lars Kleppe were joined by Knut Arild Hareide, former NSB (Norwegian State Railways) director Osmund Ueland and division manager Lars Erik Nybø from the Norwegian National Rail Administrator (Jernbaneverket), who will be in charge of the national study into high-speed trains that is about to be started.

Ueland wanted to point out that it is crucial to make sure the improvement of the Inter City triangle around the Oslo region is in place before high-speed trains can be planned. The Minister of Transport and Communications argued that doing one thing doesn’t shut the other one out, and it may be valuable for the economy seeing the development of the two in connection with each other. She pointed out that upgrading the Inter City network is already in the plans, and she promised to come back with an actual date for when it will be done, as requested by the audience. Lars Kleppe finished by emphasising the importance of long term thinking and giving priority to the infrastructure systems that have the biggest potential when it comes to capacity, travel time and environment, as well as opening up for technological improvements over time.

Oslo Teknopol is the project leader of COINCO North, an Interreg IVA project co-funded by the EU. For more information on COINCO North, go to www.coinconorth.com