The Norwegian railway sector
The railway sector in Norway consists of The Norwegian Railway Directorate, Bane NOR SF, passenger and freight train companies, Entur AS, and Norske tog AS. The Norwegian Railway Directorate is responsible for the strategic, comprehensive, and overall coordination and planning of the railway sector as a hole.
Overall responsibility
The Ministry of Transport has the overall responsibility for the transport sector. The Ministry of Transport has administrative control of The Norwegian Railway Directorate and ownership control of Bane NOR SF, Norske Tog AS, and Entur AS. The Ministry of Transport is also responsible for the state ownership of Vy AS, while the Ministry of Trade and Industry is responsible for the state ownership of Flytoget AS and Mantena AS.
The stakeholders
The Norwegian Railway Directorate’s (Jdir) social mandate is to achieve overarching goals for an efficient, safe, and environmentally friendly railway sector. Jdir maintains the strategic, comprehensive, and overall coordination and planning of the railway sector, and bases its activities on socio-economic profitability assessments.
Jdir enters into agreements to ensure that the entirety and coherence of a well-functioning railway system are maintained.
As a administrative agency, Jdir has a national coordination responsibility and professional responsibility for managing the sector.
Bane NOR SF is a state-owned enterprise and is responsible for the state railway structure and railway properties. This also includes property operations.
Bane NOR SF manages and improves the railway infrastructure on behalf of the state. This consists of:
- Railway track
- Power supply to trains
- Signal systems
- Radio communication for traffic management
- Stations
- Freight terminals
- Technical facilities for train traffic
The railway companies of passenger traffic are responsible for specific routes and lines for periods of 8 to 10 years.
Passenger traffic is not run under commercial conditions, and the state subsidizes the train operators for most of the passenger traffic.
The Railway Directorate enters traffic agreements with the passenger traffic operators. The agreements are either procured by direct award or competitive tendering.
Some of the passenger traffic can be operated without public subsidies. This applies today to Flytoget and the long-distance trains between Oslo and Stockholm.
These are the passenger traffic operators authorized to operate passenger trains in Norway:
Freight traffic on the railway is run by various freight transport operators. The freight operators provide trains that can transport the goods and run the trains between different terminals. In Norway, freight transport by train is commercial, meaning it is run without state financing.
These are the freight operators authorized to operate freight trains in Norway:
Entur AS is a state-owned company that owns and manages the system for selling train tickets and collects data for all public transport. Entur offers aggregated timetables and stops for all public transport through the national travel planner Entur app.
Norske tog AS is a state-owned company that owns and manages the train equipment that is leased to train companies. Norske tog AS has an agreement with the state on this.