Last update for this page: 14 August 2009.
National Railway System: Norges Statsbaner (NSB). Infrastructure is owned and managed by a public authority, Jernbaneverket.
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
| Journey Planner: | www.nsb.no/rutetider (English: www.nsb.no/timetables) |
| Downloadable Timetable: | www.nsb.no/rutetabeller/last_ned_rutetabell (English: www.nsb.no/timetables/download_timetables) |
| 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. |
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.
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)
There is a listing of Nordic narrow gauge tourist lines and funiculars at the Scandinavian Railways Society website.
Metro: Oslo
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 out for tender and was 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 tourist line Setesdalsbanen was 2004 extended from Beihølen to Røyknes, and 2008 an extension within Røyknes was opened 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-ended 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:
Special notes: 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.
NSB carriages do not work outside Norway and Sweden because they are larger than UIC standard loading gauge.
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.
Maps: There is no published map of the Norwegian railway system apart from that in M.G. Ball's "European Railway Atlas", but there are numerous maps of particular lines and complex areas in "Norwegian Railways from Stephenson to high speed" by Roy Owen.
Last complete update 6 June 1999; minor update 12 September 1999; narrow gauge tourist lines link added (10 January 2000); "timetable maps" added (11 January 2000); general update (18 February 2001); Other Railways updated (21 May 2001); on-line timetable details added (15 December 2003); general update (24 March 2006); reference to Eurodomino removed (9 May 2007); Tourist Lines amended (22 June 2008); general update (14 April 2009); "Timetable" and "Tourist Lines" amended (31 July 2009); "Special Notes", "Tourist Lines", "Trams", "Metro", "Recent and Future Changes" amended (1 August 2009); "Timetable", "Rule of the Road", "Tourist Lines", "Trams", "Recent and Future Changes" amended (14 August 2009).
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