Why Oslo Built A Railway Underpass For Fun (Literally)

Hello and hi! It is the 4th of January 2024, I've just got off a metro train in Oslo, and here is a short video about an underpass. Because let's face it, you can't really make a long video about an underpass, but what we're about to witness might just be the best underpass I've ever seen. This is where I get loads of comments saying, well actually we've got a way better underpass. I think you're going the wrong way, sorry. It is sort of down this way. Just past the bingo hall. Yes. Through the carpark and down here. So full disclosure, the reason I'm in Oslo is because Visit Oslo have paid for me to come here and make two videos. But even fuller disclosure, this is not one of those two videos. This is just an interesting thing I thought I'd make a little bonus video about, because apparently that is how I roll. But what is so good about this underpass? Well to give you some context, here's what it used to look like. A grim, dark tunnel which had a very shady reputation. Let's just say locals would avoid going through it if they possibly could. So the city of Oslo asked a group of students at a nearby design school to come up with ideas to make the area friendlier, safer, and maybe even something to be proud of. And the students came back with a plan to turn the underpass into a thunderpass. With bright LED lighting, a climbing wall, an art installation, an outdoor gym, 25 meters of monkey bars, and a giant mirror wall for rehearsing your dance moves. They called it Tunelen, or however an actual Norwegian would pronounce that, and in English it simply means the tunnel. And here it is in real life. Sadly for anyone hoping to see mine and Andrew's dance moves, the mirror wall doesn't seem to have made it into the final design, but everything else did. I've heard it's Norway's longest monkey bars. Do you want to try it? Off camera or on camera? I can cut. Put the camera down. No no no, but do you realise you're tall enough that you can just walk the first section? Yes. There we go. You only actually need to do this bit. Oh that's the problem because I can't even do that. Well I didn't want to do this, but I guess someone's got to show you how it should be done. I'm not sure that's rescue relief with the power of editing. Now obviously I'm not trying to tell you we should build thunder passes everywhere and it will solve all the world's problems, but it's clear this little project has had a lasting positive impact here in Amarut. It's nearly a decade now since Tunelen was first unveiled, and apart from a few graffiti tags here and there, you can tell the neighbourhood has appreciated it and looked after it. And even though it's a freezing Thursday night in January and we are very much the only idiots hanging around on the monkey bars, we've still seen plenty of people using the underpass just to pass through. Hello. But never mind that. What does a random man from Reading think about it? Right, so what do we think of the thunder pass? We think for the right people. It's a good feature. It's a good option for them. So for people with smaller feet, or people who are less tall and can actually use the monkey bars, you would recommend it? Yes, definitely. If you'd like to visit the tunnel next time you're in Oslo, it's a short walk from Amarut station on lines 4 and 5 of the metro. And of course, all the equipment here is free to use for everyone. And like I said, there's going to be two more Oslo videos coming up. It's the first time an official tourist board has ever invited me to visit their country and said, do what you want. And after they see these videos, it may well be the last. So stay subscribed if you want to see me try to race the Oslo metro on a toboggan. But until then, thank you very much for watching, and I'll see you soon. But now it sort of isn't, but there's still graffiti there, but it's not, but it is. I can see why you script yourself sometimes. Yeah, you can see why I do that, can't you?