A witness is to be questioned in connection with yesterday’s incident where objects had been placed on the railway line on Vestfoldbanen.
On Tuesday evening, a train had to stop after hitting the objects. Police station chief in Larvik Tor Eriksen says it involves several large objects.
– What we have in terms of information found on the track are slabs of stone, fire extinguishers, gas cylinders and a log.
The police are working to find out where these objects originate from.
On Wednesday, the police in Larvik will carry out new investigations at the scene and secure surveillance videos from the crime scene, which is located by an industrial area on Elveveien.
– What we have observations of is a person with a headlamp that a train driver has seen, but we are unsure whether that person has anything to do with this incident. But of course we want to get in touch with that person as well.
Eriksen says that the police are also interested in contacting any other witnesses or people who may know something about the case.
To tog
At 21.36, Bane Nor reported to the police about a train that had run over a number of objects, says Eriksen.
– Then we also find out that another train a little earlier had also run over objects in the same place.
– Is it then suspected that someone has placed new objects on the track until the next train has arrived?
– That is a good question. We don’t have an answer to that right now, but it could be a possibility.
– What do you think the motive could have been?
– It is too early to say anything about that.
The police do not yet know whether it is a question of one or more perpetrators.
– Have you connected to PST?
– No, we are not there yet. We will see what the case brings forward, and whether it will be natural to do.
This fire extinguisher was among those lying in the track.
Photo: Mette Stensholt Schau / NRK
– Could have serious consequences
The police in Larvik take the matter very seriously.
– Had train number two, which ran into these largest objects, not driven at a slow speed, this could have been a more serious accident, says Eriksen.
Bane Nor’s press officer, Harry Korslund, says that such large objects in the tracks can lead to derailments, among other things.
– In addition, the train can hit these objects in a way that causes it to be thrown out like a projectile and then risk hitting both people and buildings nearby. It is very serious.
It is very rare that they see such a serious scale, according to Korslund.
– From time to time we receive messages about things that have been put in the track, but fortunately to such an extent as this here is rare.
Bane Nor has chosen to report yesterday’s incident.
Suddenly braked
Journalist Mette Stensholt Schau from NRK was sitting on the train when it suddenly braked just before 9.30pm. Then the carriage she was in stood on the bridge over Lågen in Larvik, while the front part of the train was on the land side.
She was told that the train had hit something stuck in the track, which they had to dislodge with a stick.
– I saw from the train window that they had dislodged a concrete block, from which rebar was sticking out.
A fire extinguisher was stuck under the train, she says.
– Then they said that we had to back off a little. Then they took it off.
Eventually, the police came and looked over the tracks and the train. After a while, the train moved on and into Larvik station. The train was canceled between Larvik and Skien. There were few people on board.
Schau says that she experienced the incident as undramatic and is not afraid to catch the train again.
