Norway 2019 Expeditions

Norway 2019

In the last week of July, an expedition of CTU FTS students for transport systems to the Scandinavian countries, especially to Sweden and Norway, took place.

The departure started in Berlin, from where Snälltåget runs a direct night train to Malmö during the season. The journey was planned from south to north via Gothenburg to Oslo. Both cities operate tram services, which are not common in Scandinavia. Due to their location by the sea, both cities use shipping as part of public transport. The capital of Norway is interesting from the point of view of public transport in that the metro lines do not have separate tunnels as in Prague, and even one metro line ends in the woods above the city, from where there are beautiful views and you can choose from several tourist routes. Autonomous vehicles were also seen around the port. It is also worth mentioning the tram museum or a discussion with Norwegian experts on railway permeability in the building of the Norwegian Railway Administration.

The golden nail of the expedition, however, came with the Flåm Railway, from which you can see wonderful views of the landscape full of waterfalls, snow-capped peaks and rock walls. The climb here is up to 55 per mille. After a quick catamaran ride through the Sognefjord, the participants were waiting for the city of Bergen, the journey to the airport on one of the newest tram lines and the departure back home.

Our carriers are taking a great shame on the expedition. First, Czech Railways sold out all the seats on the mandatory EC train to Berlin, did not strengthen it in any way, did not inform the passengers in any way and subsequently did not include a dining car on it. We didn't get on the train from Dresden at all, so after refreshments we continued on another train with a delay of more than an hour at the finish. On the way back, the RegioJet bus broke down, which in the back space looked more like a sauna, and the journey in it was a hell of a pain. Without relevant information, we were transferred to a spare bus at night and brought a 105-minute delay to Prague. Both transport companies downplayed the problems. Czech Railways literally refused to negotiate any mistake at all in an arrogant way. RegioJet did not perceive anything from our complaint but the delay, which, however, would have to be at least two hours only because it formally connected the line from Vienna to Hamburg. Even after months of trying to reconcile, no company offered students any relevant compensation for a horrific experience. They have something to learn. On the contrary, a positive experience was from the Wizzair plane from Bergen to Vienna, where the pilot, a former graduate of the CTU FTS, also welcomed us in Czech and wished the students a lot of study success.

The expedition was supported by a program to support development projects of academic staff and students at CTU FTS within the CTU Institutional Plan.