Better public transport in the 21st century

The Metro circle line project commenced at the beginning of the new millennium and is one of the main events in endeavours to create a better public transport infrastructure in the capital city. Installation of the Metro circle line is of great significance, both at local level, but also for the Oslo municipality as a whole.

Conditions for growh at local level

One of the largest city development projects in Norway is underway right on the doorstep to the new Metro line. In Nydalen, offices, shops, cafés, restaurants, hotels, parks, schools and homes are being developed. When all planned projects have been completed, 550,000 square metres of new housing will be developed, resulting in 16,000 places of work and 1,000 homes. A new residential area to house 4,000 people is planned for Storo, while, at the same time, office workspace is built. It will now be much easier to access to the Metro from the larger residential areas on Sinsen and in Søndre and Nordre Åsen. The new Metro line eases the traffic situation and improves transport services for the commercial and public sectors at a local level.

A bypass and a new circlation system

The new line is 5 km long, with three new stations, and is linked to Sognsvann line at Ullevål stadium and to Grorud line at Carl Berners plass station. The entire Metro circle line is 14 km long with 13 stations, of which 7 are underground. Eight branch lines, which make up four of the main traffic arteries in Oslo, are linked to the ring system at the Metro line between Tøyen and Majorstuen stations. The new Metro line section forms a bypass around this very busy junction. The northern section of the ring provides a new crossover line between east and west, avoiding the city centre, and a number of transfer junctions giving access to a number of radial bus and tram routes. This opens the door to a series of new travel options for users of the public transport system.

Capacity, flexibility, more comfortable network

The completed ring in 2006 represents completely new levels of capacity and flexibility in the transport service provided by the Metro. On the whole, the Metro will consolidate its position as the most important public transport system in the Oslo region. Estimations show that 12 to 14 million users will travel on the Metro circle line annually.

Twelve of the busiest junctions in the country will be linked into the Metro circle line. Considerable traffic frequency objectives have been set for the Metro circle line, which will  fully accommodate improved transfer between different modes of public transports. This will result in a more comfortable public transport network.

Connection with the ralway network

The Metro circle line has a junction link with Grefsen station to allow track-using transport systems to cooperate on and share track-bound maintenance machines. Oslo is the only city in Norway that has this form of link-up between the Metro and the standard railroad network.

New route map

In the Spring 2003, AS Oslo Sporveier presented a new Metro route map that outlines the entire travel network, including branch lines and the circle line in the new Metro system.