Rails for Reykjavik !

[whole diary]

[chuffed]

A line is to be bullt connecting Keflavik airport to the capital. The train station is planned to be below the bus station. One wonders whether the train will be geothermally powered !

[Oxonhutch]

Quite a large proportion of its energy requirements will be supplied by geothermal sources.

From wikipedia...

About 85 percent of total primary energy supply in Iceland is derived from domestically produced renewable energy sources.
In 2011, geothermal energy provided about 65 percent of primary energy, the share of hydropower was 20 percent, and the share of fossil fuels (mainly oil products for the transport sector) was 15 percent. In 2013, Iceland also became a producer of wind energy.

So natural nuclear energy from Mother Earth herself!

[grahame]

A line is to be bullt connecting Keflavik airport to the capital.

See http://icelandmonitor.mbl.is/news/nature_and_travel/2016/03/14/iceland_s_high_speed_airport_train_one_step_closer/

and ... YES PLEASE ... said as a heartfelt plea by someone who's used the current coach system and found it less than ideal before / after a longish flight.

Noting from the picture, mischievously, that perhaps DB^» (Deutsche Bahn - German State Railway - about)'s foreign arm  Arriva - may be in the bidding to run it!

[JayMac]

I believe a forum moderator was very recently in Iceland. Perhaps he'd care to comment. No idea whether this scheme is planned to be four tracks though...

[stuving]

As described, it's more of a decision to think about planning to have another plan to actually build a railway. Maybe. 

[John R]

Hardly high speed as described in the report, but realistically the distance probably doesn't warrant anything faster.

I'd agree that the current coach journey is a bit tedious at around an hour.  Passenger numbers have grown rapidly in the last three years since low cost operators such as Easyjet opened routes. Though whether 6m a year is enough to sustain a frequent passenger service and justify the investment required to build the link must be marginal.

And although people tend to believe that the country has repaid those debts such as when Icesave collapsed, the reality is that the underlying debt position of the country is still very precarious, with a lot of bank bond debt now effectively backed by the government unlikely to be repaid (source FT).  So I am a little miffed that a busted flush thinks it can afford a nice to have railway when it can't pay its debts.

[chuffed]

 According to the report in TR (Europe) the first 12km will be in tunnel the next 35km will be on the surface alongside motorway 41. ma x speed 175km/hr.  Forecast cost 150m ISK (1.07 million euros)

[ellendune]

According to the report in TR (Europe) the first 12km will be in tunnel the next 35km will be on the surface alongside motorway 41. ma x speed 175km/hr.  Forecast cost 150m ISK (1.07 million euros)

Seems very cheap for 47km of railway I would have though the million ought to be replaced with Billion

[chuffed]

I stand corrected. Billion not million !

[Tim]

Though whether 6m a year is enough to sustain a frequent passenger service and justify the investment required to build the link must be marginal.

Depends where it stops on the way.  Presumably it would pass through the Hafnarfjordur and Kopavogur suburbs on the way to Reykjavik.   They generate substantial commuter traffic into the capital.  I have no idea if they will have stops though.