Map of the railway lines in Norway. — electrified lines — non-electrified lines — disused or heritage lines
The first railway in Norway was the Hoved Line between Oslo and Eidsvoll and opened in 1854. The main purpose of the railway was to move lumber from Mjøsa to the capital, but passenger service was also offered. In the period between the 1860s and the 1880s Norway saw a boom of smaller railways being built, including isolated railways in Central and Western Norway. The predominant gauge at the time was 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) (narrow gauge), but some lines were built in 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (standard gauge). The height of the era came in 1877 when the Røros Line connected Central Norway to the capital. In 1883 the entire main railway network was taken over by Norwegian State Railways (NSB), though a number of industrial railways and branch lines continued to be operated by private companies.
Three urban railways, in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim, were started as in 1875 (Oslo), 1897 (Bergen) and Trondheim (1901). Oslo's system, as the only one, started with horse cars, the others were electrified from the beginning. Electric cars were introduced in Oslo in 1894 and the last horse car operated in 1900.
Bergen closed down its first generation system between 1944 and 1965, but (re-)introduced light rail transit (LRT) in 2006.
The second construction boom of the main railway arose in the 1910s and included the Bergen Line across Finse to Bergen, connecting Eastern and Western Norway. A number of other larger projects were also built in the 1920s, including a second line, the Dovre Line, to Trondheim. This period also saw the first electrified railways and a steady conversion from narrow gauge to standard gauge. Norway chose to electrify its network at 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC.
During World War II there was a massive construction by the German Forces as part of creating Festung Norwegen, including large sections of the Nordland Line and the completion of the Sørland Line. After the war the main effort was to complete the Nordland Line (which reached Bodø in 1962) and the decision to electrify 50% of the network, a task not completed until 1970. This allowed the retirement of steam locomotives, which were replaced with electric engines like the El 11 and El 13 or the diesel powered Di 3. In 1966 Norway's only rapid transit, Oslo T-bane was opened, but in the same decade the Bergen tramway was closed. In the 1970s and 80s many branch lines were also abandoned.
In 1980 the massive project of connecting the eastern and western railway networks around Oslo was completed with the opening of the Oslo Tunnel and Oslo Central Station. In 1996 NSB was split into the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate, Jernbaneverket and an operating company NSB BA. Since then, the companies have been split into 10 separate corporations. In 1998 the first new line in 36 years was opened when the high-speedGardermoen Line was opened to allow travel at 210 km/h between Oslo, Oslo Airport and Eidsvoll. The 1990s also saw the massive introduction of multiple units on passenger trains. In the 2000s the freight segment was deregulated and a number of freight companies have started competing with the NSB subsidiary CargoNet.
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 double track and 60 km high-speed rail (210 km/h). In addition there is 225 km of urban railways, of which 218 km is double track. In addition there are some industrial tracks and minor branch lines and some abandoned and heritage railways. The entire main network is 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) (standard gauge), as are the urban railways in Oslo and Bergen. Of the operational railways in Norway, only the Trondheim Tramway has a different gauge, the meter gauge, 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in). Some heritage railways, though, operate with various kinds of narrow gauge.
2,622 km (64%) of the railway network is electrified, all of it at 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC with overhead wires. The only sections that are not electrified are the lines north of Mjøsa, with the sole exception of the Dovre Line and the Ofoten Line. On non-electrified sections diesel locomotives are used. All of the urban railways use 600 or 750 VDC, via overhead wires on the tramways and via third-rail on the Oslo T-bane.
Future expansion plans
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 question about building a high-speed railway between the largest Southern Norwegian cities has been discussed at political level, and a report was ready by the end of 2007. Advocates for rail transport and environmentalists have wanted to build high speed railways, including upgrades to 250 km/h on the Sørland Line, Bergen Line, and Dovre Line while others, including Norsk Bane, have suggested construction of a new line through Haukeli to Stavanger, Haugesund and Bergen.
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 Northern Norway to Finland (the planned Arctic Railway) and Russia. At Kirkenes, the Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn Line is proposed to be connected to Russia's Murmansk–Nikel Railway,[10] and the line is also proposed for connection to the Finnish network in Rovaniemi (there has been a line between Rovaniemi and the Murmansk railway).[11][12] Russia has generally dismissed this proposal in favour of using Russian ports instead of Kirkenes. Another proposal has been to build a line from Kolari to Skibotn and Tromsø,[13] even if connecting to the existing line to Narvik is the main suggestion.
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]
Until the 1990s only commuter and regional trains were operated with multiple units, but since then Vy has ordered numerous multiple units for its regional and express lines. Express trains are operated with 16 BM 73 units with tilting technology, regional trains with 16 BM 70, 6 BM 73b (both electric) and 15 BM 93 (diesel) units while the local trains are operated by 71 BM 69 and 36 BM 72 (both electric) while the local trains around Trondheim, Trøndelag Commuter Rail, uses 14 BM 92diesel multiple unit. The Airport Express Train uses 16 BM 71 and Vy Gjøvikbanen operates 9 BM 69g units. The Ofoten Line operates three BM 68 electric multiple units.
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 El 14, 15 El 16, 19 Di 8 and 6 CD66. The other companies use stock retired by NSB, including the Ofoten Line's 7 El 13, 5 Di 3 and 2 T43, HectorRail's 6 El 15 (now known as 161) and Tåkåkeriet's Rc2.
Winchester, Clarence, ed. (1936), "Railroads of Norway", Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 407–414 illustrated description of Norwegian railways in the 1930s
