Following the construction of the tunnel, 32 kilometres (20 mi) of railway around this area was also rebuilt to achieve higher train speeds, a shorter overall distance, and to maximize the natural protection from the weather.

[3] During the 1980s, the repeated operational breaks and high costs related to the Bergen Line past Finse was a constant problem for NSB and in 1983 the director, Robert Nordén launched the idea of a tunnel through the mountain.

He was backed by the engineering staff in NSB, who felt that a tunnel would be a simple way of solving many of the challenges relating to the railway operations.

Estimates calculated the cost of the investment at 170 million kr, including the upgrade of part of the line east of Finse Station.

Due to the possibility of covering the investment costs through savings on operations, the committee asked the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications to prioritize the tunnel on their budget proposals.

At the political level, the Finse Tunnel had to compete with upgrades in Eastern Norway, where NSB was planning to launch the InterCity Express service.

[3] The government chose to try to delay the decision to build the Finse Tunnel until after 1990 so it could be considered along with other railway projects in a central plan.

[5] The second part of the construction project consisted of the 11-kilometre (6.8 mi) line from Tunga to Finse, and was with the exception of one 300-metre (980 ft) tunnel all at grade.

There is only 1 metre (3.3 ft) of clearance on each side of the trains, and it would take between two and three hours to get fire fighters to the scene, since the tunnel is located in an area without roads.