Rail transport in Norway

The Norwegian railway system comprises 4,109 km of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (

The first railway in Norway was the

The national main routes in Norway are considered to be among the slowest in Europe,[7] and slower than parts of East Africa,^[8] with average speeds below 80 km/h.

Network

Track

The main railway network consists of 4,087 km of lines, of which 262 km is

The Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn Line used to be the northernmost railway in the world, but was in 2010 beaten by the Obskaya–Bovanenkovo Line in Russia. Still, Narvik is one of the northernmost towns in the world to have a railway connection, as the terminus for the Ofoten Line. It connects to Kiruna, Sweden, but not to Bodø, the northern terminus of the Norwegian railway network. Kiruna is, however, connected to the Swedish railway network, which again is connected to the Norwegian network at the Swedish stations of Charlottenberg, Storlien and Kornsjø.

Traction

2,622 km (64%) of the railway network is electrified, all of it at

In its plans, Bane NOR will concentrate its expansions primarily on the cramped network around Oslo and the larger cities.

• New tunnel under Oslo city center.
• Vestfold Line: A new alignment between Larvik and Porsgrunn ca 23 km, cut 22 minutes of travel time. Double track between Drammen and Tønsberg is under construction and due by 2025. The plan is to make the whole line double tracked from Drammen to Porsgrunn.
• Sørland Line
  : Plans may include between Porsgrunn and Skorstøl, which would realign trains to southern Norway via Vestfold.
• Østfold Line: The Østfold Line is today double track both north and south of Moss, but in Moss 10 km remains as a single track bottleneck. Plans is to realign the railway through Moss, with double track through two tunnels.
• Ringerike Line is a planned railway between Sandvika and Hønefoss that will reduce travel time between Oslo and Hønefoss/Bergen by 50 minutes. Construction is postponed indefinitely.
• Bergen Line: Double track from Bergen to Arna. Later plans call for double track further east to Stanghelle and Voss.
• Dovre Line: Expanding the rest of the line between Eidsvoll and Hamar to double track by 2027. Realignment of Dovrebanen south of Trondheim may be done together with relocating of Trondheims freight terminal.
• Nordland Line/Meråker Line: Electrifying of the Meråker Line and the Nordland Line up to Stjørdal is planned to be finished by 2024. Later plans may include double tracking between Trondheim and Stjørdal, and a new tunnel between Stjørdal and Levanger.^[9]
• The Bergen Light Rail was opened in 2010, and extensions are being built.
• The
  Trondheim tramway
  .

High speed rail

The question about building a

• Holmenkoll Line (Oslo T-bane
  ) (1898)
• Gråkallen Line (Trondheim Tramway) (to Ila 1893, Lian 1933)
• Røa Line (Oslo T-bane) (1912)
• Fløibanen (Bergen) (1914)
• Oslo Tramway
  ) (1919)
• Sognsvann Line
  (Oslo T-bane) (1933)
• Kjelsås Line (Oslo Tramway) (1934)
• Kolsås Line (Oslo T-bane) (1924)
• Østensjø Line (Oslo T-bane) (1926)
• Lambertseter Line (Oslo T-bane) (1957)
• Grorud Line (Oslo T-bane) (1966)
• Furuset Line (Oslo T-bane) (1970)
• Bergen Light Rail
  ) (2010)

Railway links with adjacent countries

Sweden is the only country with which Norway shares railway borders. Sweden and Norway share gauge, loading gauge, signaling system, electric system, GSM-R and automatic trains stop systems. Most rolling stock can cross the border. There are four border crossings: the Østfold Line–Norway/Vänern Line, the Kongsvinger Line–Värmland Line, the Meråker Line–Central Line and the Ofoten Line–Iron Ore Line. All crossings have electric traction on the Swedish side, but the Meråker Line lacks it on the Norwegian side. There have previously been operational train ferries to Denmark.

There are proposals to connect

Operation

Railway companies

Traditionally, all trains were operated by Vy (formerly NSB), but the deregulation in the 2000s has led to the introduction of a number of new

In 2017 Norway's Ministry of Transport and Communications decided to develop tenders for the operation of passenger rail services. On 4 February 2018, it launched a tender to deliver Traffic Package 1 that will commence on 15 December 2019, comprising long-distance services on the Sørlandet Line from Oslo to Stavanger.^[14] In October 2018 this package was awarded to Go-Ahead Norge.^[15]

In March 2018, the Norwegian Railway Directorate launched tenders for Traffic Package 2, passenger services on the Røros Line, Meråker Line, Rauma Line, and Nordland Line, plus regional services in Trøndelag county.^[16] SJ will commence operating the package on 7 June 2020.^[17]

On 21 December 2018, the Norwegian Railway Directorate launched tenders for Traffic Package 3, passenger services on the Oslo to Bergen line starting on 13 December 2020.^[18]

Passenger services

Passenger rolling stock

Until the 1990s only commuter and regional trains were operated with

Vy still uses locomotive hauled passenger trains on a few of the long-distance lines. For this task they use 22 El 18s and 5 Di 4s in addition to six El 17 on the Flåm Line. Most of the cars are B7 on long-distance services and B5 on regional services. Most of the locomotives have been transferred to the freight division CargoNet.

Freight rolling stock

CargoNet uses a combination of 30

See Chronology of Norwegian railway lines.

• Losbylinja (Østmorksaga–Fjellhamar) (1861–ca 1940)
• Kalvskinnet-Heimdallinjen (Kalvskinnet–Heimdal) (1864–1884)
• Krøder Line (Vikersund–Krøderen
  ) (1872–1985)
• Sulitjelma Line (Finneid–Sulitjelma) (1892–1972)
• Nesttun–Os Railway (Nesttun–Os
  ) (1894–1935)
• Kristiansand–Byglandsfjord
  ) (1896–1962)
• Urskog–Høland Line (Sørumsand–Skulerud) (1896–1960)
• Lillesand–Flaksvand Line (Lillesand–Flaksvann) (1896–1953)
• Hafslund Line (Hafslund–Sundløkka) (1898–1973)
• Tønsberg–Eidsfoss Line (Tønsberg–Eidsfoss) (1901–1938)
• Holmestrand–Vittingfoss
  ) (1902–1938)
• Skreia Line (Reinsvoll–Skreia (1902–1987)
• Lier Line (Lier–Svangstrand) (1904)
• Flekkefjord Line (Sira–Flekkefjord) (1904–1990)
• Valdres Line (Eina–Fagernes) (1906–1988)
• Grimstad Line (Grimstad–Rise) (1907–1961)
• Oslo Port Line (Loenga–Filipstad) (1907–1983)
• Thamshavn Line (Løkken–Thamshavn) (1908–1974)
• Rjukan Line (Rjukan–Mæl) (1908–1991)
• Tinnos Line (Tinnoset–Notodden
  ) (1908–1990)
• Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn Line (Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn) (1910–1997)
• Treungen Line (Nelaug–Treungen
  ) (1913–1967)
• Vestmarka Line (Skotterud–Vestmarka) (1918–)
• Solbergfoss Line (Askim–Solbergfoss) (1918–)
• Ålgård Line (Ganddal–Ålgård) (1924–1988)
• Sperill Line (Hen–Sperillen
  ) (1926–1957)
• Kongsberg–Rødberg
  ) (1927–1988)
• Kragerø Line (Neslandsvatn–Kragerø) (1927–1988)
• Grong–Namsos
  ) (1933)
• Hardanger Line (Vossevangen–Granvin) (1935)
• Røykenvik Line (Jaren–Røykenvik)
• Ilsvika Line (Skansen–Fagervika)
• Gardermoen
  )

Abandoned urban railways

• Lade Line (Trondheim Tramway) (1901–1988)
• Elgeseter Line (Trondheim Tramway) (1913–1983)
• Singsaker Line (Trondheim Tramway) (1927–1968)

See also

• Rail transport by country
• Transport in Norway
• Narrow gauge railways in Norway
• Norwegian railway signalling
• Norges Statsbaner rolling stock

References