Norway - General Information
Country Name
Norway (Norge)
National Railway System
National Railway Operator
Norges Statsbaner (NSB).
The train service between Oslo and Gardermoen Airport is operated by a subsidiary company, NSB Gardermobanen AS. The Linx company, jointly owned by SJ and NSB and which operated services between Norway and Sweden, was liquidated and ceased operations on 8 January 2005. Through services Stockholm - Oslo are again operated by SJ. Oslo - Göteborg is operated by NSB in cooperation with Svenska Tågkompaniet (TKAB), and in 2007 NSB acquired full ownership of TKAB. The ‘Nabotåget’ trains between Trondheim and Östersund are operated by Veolia Transport on behalf of Z-trafik AB, the transport authority of the Jämtland region.
Language
Norwegian. There are two forms of Norwegian, Bokmål and Nynorsk. Bokmål predominates, with Nynorsk used mainly in western fjord and central mountain areas.
Currency
Norwegian Krone
UIC code
NSB: numeric 76; alpha N
Timetable
Journey Planner
www.nsb.no/rutetider (English: www.nsb.no/timetables)
Downloadable Timetable
A list with individual PDFs is available here.
Printed Timetable
NSB does not publish a single comprehensive timetable. A series of leaflets, available free of charge at stations, give details of services on different lines, and include route diagrams. Comprehensive public transport information, including maps, is provided by "Rutebok for Norge", published by Norsk Reiseinformasjon AS, Karl Johansgt 2, 0154 Oslo +47 233 0190, fax +47 242 5033. Apart from brief introductory paragraphs in English, German and French this is entirely in Norwegian, but is straightforward to use.
Engineering Information
www.nsb.no/category3843.html. For weather reasons, the major engineering work takes place in the summer season.
Maps
Printed Maps
- European Railway Atlas: Scandinavia and Eastern Europe by M.G. Ball (1993) (ISBN 0-7110-2072-4)
- European Railway Atlas by M.G. Ball (2008 onwards)
- There are numerous maps of particular lines and complex areas in "Norwegian Railways from Stephenson to high speed" by Roy Owen.
Web-based Maps
- Thorsten Büker's Map of Scandinavia
Ticketing
Seat reservations are essential on most long-distance trains and reserved seats are not indicated as such.
Many carriages in Oslo suburban trains are reserved for season ticket holders between the hours of 04:00 and 20:00 Mondays to Fridays. These are indicated by prominent yellow signs on the carriage doors.
On some services First and Second Class accommodation has been redesignated Økonomiklasse (Economy) and Kontorklasse (Business), but on many trains only Second or Economy Class is provided. First or Kontorklasse accommodation is generally not indicated by a yellow stripe on the outside of vehicles. Couchettes are not provided on internal overnight trains, but sleeping cars have up to three berths per compartment.
Premium fares are charged on the "Airport Express" service between Oslo and Gardermoen Airport, and InterRail and similar tickets are not valid. In addition, ordinary NSB trains run between Oslo and the Airport twice hourly.
Infrastructure
Infrastructure Authority
Infrastructure is owned and managed by a public authority, Jernbaneverket.
Network Statement
Network Statement 2012. Note that there is a somewhat confusing heading "Network Statement 2013".
Gauge
Standard
Electrification
15 kV 16.7 Hz.
Rule of the road
Right, but almost all lines in Norway outside the Oslo suburban area are single track.
Distances
The best source is the Network Statement section 3.6.1.1 Station Overview.
Other Railways
None, but iron ore trains to Narvik are operated by Malmtrafik AS (and Swedish company Malmtrafik AB) which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Swedish mining company LKAB. Passenger trains between Narvik and Sweden are again now operated by SJ, which had formed a subsidiary SJ Norrlandståg which won the contract back. Trains on the Flåm branch are operated by NSB, but commercial responsibility for the service rests with Flåm Utvikling, a company owned by local councils.
Tourist lines
(Standard gauge unless shown otherwise)
- Krøderbanen: Vikersund - Krøderen www.njk.no/kroderbanen/index_e.php
- Gamle Vossebanen: Garnes [near Bergen] - Midttun: www.njk.no/vossebanen/index.php
- Lommedalsbanen: Lommedalen in Bærum (600 mm gauge) www.lommedalsbanen.no
- Norsk Bergverksmuseum: Saggrenda (west of Kongsberg) (800 mm gauge) www.bvm.museum.no
- Numedalsbanen: Kongsberg - Rødberg (mainly cycle draisine facility with occasional trains when advertised) www.numedalsbanen.no
- Rjukanbanen: Mæl - Rjukan (no regular train service but cycle draisines are available on the section from Mael rasteplass - not the station - to the outskirts of Rjukan; to be taken over by the Norsk Industriarbeidermuseum [Norwegian industrial workers' museum] of Vemork from 2010; see also Wikipedia entry)
- Setesdalsbanen: Grovane - Røyknes (1067 mm gauge) www.setesdalsbanen.no/index_en.php
- Thamshavnbanen: Løkken - Fannrem (electric, metre gauge) www.oi.no/engelsk/index.html
- Urskog-Hølandsbanen: Sørumsand - Fossum (750 mm gauge) www.akersmus.no/tertitten
There is a listing of Nordic narrow gauge tourist lines and funiculars at the Scandinavian Railways Society website.
Rail cycling is possible on a number of lines; see the IG Draisinenfahrten website. Click on 'International', followed by 'Draisinenlinks' to obtain website details under the heading 'Draisinenstrecken in Norwegen (NO)'.
Metro
Trams
Recent and future changes
Extensive re-alignments and new lines have been built to improve journey times. The line from Oslo to Sarpsborg via Moss has been rebuilt over much of its length. However, passenger traffic south of Rakkestad (on the other line to Sarpsborg) was withdrawn on 15 June 2003.
Work on the Bergen line has included construction of a long tunnel below the summit at Finse.
Operation of the Oslo - Gjøvik line was put out for tender and won by a subsidiary of NSB (NSB Anbud) in 2005. The name was later changed into NSB Gjøvikbanen.
A new railway (the Gardermobanen) has been built from Oslo to Eidsvoll via the Romeriksporten tunnel, Lillestrøm and Gardermoen Airport. Passenger traffic between Dal and Eidsvoll (on the Hovedbanen, the old main line) was withdrawn on 13 June 2004 although the line remains open for freight traffic.
A new freight terminal at Ganddal near Stavanger was opened January 2008.
The Setesdalsbanen tourist line was extended from Beihølen to Røyknes in 2004 and an extension within Røyknes opened on 5 September 2008.
At Notodden, the branch to the original 1909 terminal station of the Tinnoset line (which pre-dated the line to Hjuskebø and Nordagatu) was brought back into passenger use in about 2005/6 to a new, short, dead-end single platform alongside the bus terminal. This is just past the 1909 station which still stands, albeit in non-railway use. The line leaves the "main" branch at the southern throat of the now closed second (1920) passenger station.
Oslo T-Banen (= Metro) has been extended to form a circle (lines 4/6). The first new section (Ullevål Stadion – Storo) opened 20 August 2003, and the circle was completed 21 August 2006 when Storo – Carl Berners plass opened. The Kolsås line (line 6) is undergoing rebuilding to full Metro standard. So far, Smestad – Åsjordet has been opened (18 August 2008). The continuation to Jar should open in December 2010, thence to Bekkestua in August 2011, and through to Kolsås about 2014. In consequence, tram route 13 is temporarily closed west of Lilleaker. The Frognerseteren line (line 1) north of Majorstuen is closed for reconstruction until January 2011.
There are a number of projects in the Jernbaneverket portfolio. Some projects are presented in English: www.jernbaneverket.no/en/Startpage/Projects, but there are more in Norwegian www.jernbaneverket.no/no/Prosjekter/Prosjekter:
- Doubling of Stavanger – Sandnes started in October 2006 and the work is to be completed December 2009 or January 2010.
- Oslo – Ski is to be quadrupled. Construction is planned to start 2013, but is dependent on confirmation of public funding.
- Drammen – Tønsberg – Larvik – Porsgrunn: Holm – Holmestrand – Nykirke is to be doubled. Work on Holm – Holmestrand is planned to start in late 2010 and be completed in 2013, with Holmestrand – Nykirke starting and being completed one year later; the realigned and double tracked Barkåker – Tønsberg section was formally opened on 19 November 2011; construction will start in 2012 on a completely new Larvik - Porsgrunn line, which reduce the journey time from 34 minutes to 11.
- The 5.7 km between Trondheim and Værnes is to be rebuilt with a new tunnel. Start spring 2009, completion autumn 2011.
- Two more tracks are under construction between Skøyen and Asker. The first section, Sandvika – Asker, was completed in 2005; rebuilding of Lysaker station was completed in 2009; the new Baerum Tunnel between Lysaker and Sandvika opened on 28 August 2011. Work on the last section, Skøyen – Lysaker, will start in 2015 at the earliest.
The tramway in Bergen, Bybanen, 9.8 km long between Byparken in the city and Nesttun, opened on 22 June 2010. The depot is at Kronstad. At time of writing a film of the route is available. There are already plans to extend the line: see Wikipedia.The second stage Nesttun Terminal - Rådal (Lagunen) is planned for opening June 2013.
Special notes
NSB carriages do not work outside Norway and Sweden because they are larger than UIC standard loading gauge.
The following lines are listed as temporarily closed to traffic; infrastructure is maintained only enough to allow inspection by a measuring vehicle.
- (Grong -) Skogmo - Namsos
- Notodden - Tinnoset
- Eina - Dokka
The following lines are listed as closed to traffic; they are not part of the National Norwegian Network and are not maintained. However track is in situ.
- Sira - Flekkefjord; the loading gauge is smaller than standard
- (Kongsberg -) Rollag - Rødberg
- Neslandsvatn - Sannidal
- Dokka - Bjørgo
- Ganddal - Figgjo - Ålgård; track cut at Figgjo (9 km)
Additional vowels come at the end of the Norwegian alphabet, with Æ, Ø and Å following Z in that order. Accordingly, Åsen comes last in the index of Norwegian railway stations and Mære is further down the list than Mysen.
