The Royal Ministry Of Foreign Affairs,
Oslo Press Division

Norway Daily No. 69/00

Date: 6 April 2000

TRAIN ACCIDENT IN LILLESTRØM PUTS PROPANE TANKER ON SLOW BURN (Aftenposten)

A partial brake failure may have been the cause of the train accident at Lillestrøm station which has left a gas tanker burning since the accident took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning. A total failure would have sent the train crashing into the station at 120 km/h, but as it was, the speed could hardly have been over 50 km/h. The engineer has explained that the automatic train stop system (ATS) activated the brakes as it should have, but without fully functioning brakes it had little effect. The engineer held the whistle wide open in a desperate attempt to warn the engineer of the train waiting at the station. No one was injured in the accident.

3000 EVACUATED FROM LILLESTRØM (Dagbladet)

With the danger of over 90 tons of propane exploding, police ordered the evacuation of nearly 3000 people from their homes in Lilestrøm yesterday. Everyone within a radius of 800 metres of the burning tank car had to vacate homes and workplaces. The tanker is still burning, and no one knows when they can return to their homes.

LILLESTRØM ON THE EDGE OF CONFLAGRATION (Dagsavisen)

The explosion of 90 tons of propane would cause extensive damage withing a radius of 600 metres, razing a major portion of the Lillestrøm town centre. The explosion of only 20 tons of this type of gas is lethal within a radius of 55 metres. We have no precise estimate of how much gas is left in the tankers, but the extreme heat released by an explosion of this nature would reach as far as 300 metres, says Romerike police chief Jørgen Høydahl.

NSB PRESIDENT CONSIDERS RESIGNATION (Dagbladet)

Norwegian State Railway (NSB) chief Osmund Ueland says he will consider resigning once the reports from the Åsta accident in January and yesterday’s accident in Lillestrøm are on the table. These reports can take months to prepare, so Mr. Ueland could still be in charge for a long time to come.

HÅGENSEN SHOCKED BY FIRE (Aftenposten)

It is appalling that anyone would want to do this much harm to another. Fire experts have applied the term ‘total damage’, and I can see why, said Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions (LO) president Yngve Hågensen outside his fire-ravaged home yesterday. Mr. Hågensen and Norwegian United Federation of Trade Unions president Kjell Bjørndalen received identical letters on 11 February carrying threats that their homes could burn down.

PRISON QUEUES DOUBLED IN ONE YEAR (Dagsavisen)

Over 700 persons convicted of various offenses have been waiting longer than two months to serve their jail sentences, compared with only 380 at this time last year. The reason is that a growing number of persons are being convicted of crimes, and many of these sentences are longer as well. But the capacity of our penal institutions has not kept pace, says Erik Lund-Isaksen, Director General of the Prisons and Probation Department, who also adds that the situation is serious.

CALLS FROM POLITICAL RIGHT FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT (Nationen)

Inge Lønning (Conservative) and Fridtjof Frank Gundersen (Progress) call for a constitutional amendment to make it easier for the Storting to ratify Norwegian membership of the EU. Article 93 of the Norwegian Constitution authorizes the Storting, by a three-fourths majority vote, to pass authority within defined limits to an international organization. Reducing the required majority from three-fourths to two-thirds would make it easier to get Norway into the EU.

HOSPITAL TESTIFIERS COORDINATED THEIR STORIES (Aftenposten)

The people at the top of the chain of responsibility for the construction of the new National Hospital have taken steps to filter and coordinate their statements to the Storting. Three weeks before the hearings began, high-ranking officials met to find common ground, according to notes from this meeting which Aftenposten has been able to examine. These notes were later edited, and sensitive items were extensively moderated. If the persons responsible have been coordinating their explanations and editing their information, these hearings are of doubtful value says Odd Holten (Chr.Dem.). Other members of the Standing Scrutiny Committee have reacted strongly to this information.

IT STOCKMARKET TROUBLED (Dagens Næringsliv)

IT stock has never fallen as rapidly as it did yesterday on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The IT index was down 11.5 points, and the value of IT corporations was down NOK 11 billion. A number of Norwegian bank presidents are sitting with their fingers on the alarm button. The Finansbanken, Den norske Bank (DnB) and Kreditkassen are all holding clients with heavy debt-financed stockholdings under careful observation.

WORTH NOTING

• A train hauling one million litres of aviation fuel passes through Lillestrøm station every morning on its way to Gardermoen. The hazard represented by this train has not been sufficiently analyzed. (Dagsavisen)
• No prominent public person in Norway has suffered such a grave attack in peacetime as Yngve Hågensen did when his house was set afire. (Vårt Land)
• Police as well as experts on Norway’s radical right are no longer inclined to believe that neo-Nazis are responsible for the fire in Yngve Hågensen’s home. (Dagbladet)
• Yesterday, Finance Minister Karl Eirik Schjøtt-Pedersen opened the door for a merger between DnB and Kreditkassen, but Deputy party chairman Hill-Marta Solberg has slammed it shut again—for the second time. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Former Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik and former Finance Minister Gudmund Restad call on Labour to clarify its stand on the bank issue. Conservative finance policy spokesman Per-Kristian Foss, too, says that Labour has expressed conflicting views on the future structure of Norway’s banking industry. (Aftenposten)
• Minister of Petroleum and Energy Olav Akselsen will submit a statement in July on a completely new structure for the State Direct Financial Interest (SDFI). The statement will also attempt to show how the Norwegian offshore industry will be made more attractive for small oil companies. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• Norsk Hydro confirms the sale of Hydro Seafood to Dutch aquaculture giant Nutreco for NOK 3.8 billion. Minister of Trade and Industry Grete Knudsen will not pull rank to block the deal. (Dagens Næringsliv)
• The sale of Hydro Seafood to Nutreco could bar Norsk Hydro from the acquisition of oil shares from the state. Labour, the Centre Party and the Christian Democrats have all expressed views to the effect that this sale could affect Hydro’s chances of receiving new shares in the State Direct Financial Interest (SDFI) in the petroleum sector. (Dagsavisen)

TODAY’S COMMENT from Vårt Land

What is not supposed to be able to happen keeps happening, and with increasing frequency. At least with Norway’s trains. Norwegian State Railway (NSB) spokesmen say the latest accident in Lillestrøm is incomprehensible. If the NSB thinks this is the proper response to an accident, it is really confused. The NSB’s reputation is now so tarnished that it will take a long time to recover any semblance of respect. The Gardermoen Airport has opened up a golden well of opportunities for the NSB, but the NSB has squandered them all.