The Norwegian railway system comprises 4,109 km of (standard gauge) track of which 2,644 km is electrified and 274 km double track. There are 697 tunnels and 2,760 bridges.
The Norwegian Railway Directorate manages the railway network in Norway on behalf of the Ministry of Transportation. Bane NOR is a state enterprise which builds and maintains all railway tracks, while other companies operate them. These companies include Vy and subsidiaries Vy Gjøvikbanen and CargoNet, Flytoget, Go-Ahead, SJ Norge, Green Cargo, Grenland Rail and Hector Rail.
Norway is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Norway is 76.
History
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 (narrow gauge), but some lines were built 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, the Oslo Tramway, the Bergen Tramway and the Trondheim Tramway, were started as well, in 1875, 1897 and 1901 respectively. Oslo's system started with horse-drawn 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 .
After Norway was occupied by Germany in 1940, during World War II there was massive construction by the German occupying 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 such as 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-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-speed Gardermoen 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, and slower than parts of East Africa, with average speeds below 80 km/h.
A combination of natural disasters, aging lines and equipment, and lack of electrification north of Stjørdal made the situation rapidly worse in the 2020s; Dovre Line was closed for nine months in 2023-24 after the Randklev Bridge fell into the Lågen river, and for several months in 2025 due to the bridge south of Otta Station being weakened by ice accumulation around its pillars. After the 2024 Finneidfjord train derailment on the Nordland Line with one fatality, services on the line were sharply reduced since the derailment caused the write-off of one of very few remaining locomotives suited for national lines, with enough new locomotives to resume night services not planned to be put into service until 2029, and a mudslide on the combined Nordland Line / Trønderbanen stretch from Levanger-Steinkjer in August 2025 that led to 1 person missing has made that stretch inoperable until well into 2026 and with several locomotives unable to be moved south of the slide point, which in turn affected services on other lines as well. The Stjørdalselva river flooding in March 2025 shut down the Meråker Line for some weeks, and various slides around Drangsdalen have shut down the Sørland Line in short periods.
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 (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, . Some heritage railways, though, operate with various kinds of narrow gauge.
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 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 V DC, 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 around long, reducing travel time by 22 minutes. 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 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: Later plans may include double tracking between Trondheim and Stjørdal, and a new tunnel between Stjørdal and Levanger. The Bergen Light Rail was opened in 2010, and extensions are being built. The Oslo T-bane will be expanded, as will the Trondheim tramway.
High speed rail
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.
Platform heights There are current proposed figures: above rail for long-distance trains above rail for commuter trains above rail for shared platforms For or broad gauge lines, passenger platforms shall be as low to above rail should be allowed.
Heritage There are also several operational museum railways in Norway, including the Krøder Line, Setesdal Line, Urskog–Høland Line, Thamshavn Line, Rjukan Line, Valdres Line, Nesttun–Os Railway and Old Voss Line. The Norwegian Railway Museum is located in Hamar and includes exhibits of train hardware, related objects, as well as document and photography archives.
Lines Fully operational lines Line nameTerminiLengthPowerOpenedOther infokmmilesBergen LineHønefoss StationBergen StationElectricOperated route Oslo S–Drammen–Bergen (495 km)Flåm LineMyrdal StationFlåm StationElectricBranch to the Bergen LineRandsfjord LineHokksund StationHønefoss StationElectricOperated as part of the Bergen LineBratsberg LineEidanger StationNordagutu StationElectricOperated route Porsgrunn–Notodden (incl. the Tinnos Line)Eidanger–Skien operated as part of the Vestfold LineTinnos LineHjuksebø StationNotodden StationElectricOperated route Porsgrunn–Notodden as part of the Bratsberg LineDovre LineEidsvoll StationTrondheim StationElectricOperated route Oslo S–Dombås–Trondheim (553 km)Rauma LineDombås StationÅndalsnes StationDieselOperated as branch to the Dovre LineDrammen LineOslo SDrammen StationElectricAsker LineSandvika StationAsker StationElectricParallel line to the Drammen LineSpikkestad LineAsker StationSpikkestad StationElectric()Branch to and originally part of the Drammen LineOperated route Spikkestad–Oslo S–LillestrømGardermoen LineEtterstad StationEidsvoll StationElectricOperated route Oslo S–Lillestrøm–Gardermoen/–EidsvollGjøvik LineOslo SGjøvik StationElectricHoved LineOslo SEidsvoll StationElectricKongsvinger LineLillestrøm StationCharlottenberg StationElectricOperated route Oslo S–Lillestrøm–Kongsvinger/–SwedenContinues as VärmlandsbananMeråker LineHell StationStorlien StationElectricOperated route Trondheim–Hell–Meråker–SwedenContinues as MittbananNordland LineTrondheim StationBodø StationDieselOfoten LineNarvik StationBjørnfjell StationElectricContinues as MalmbananRøros LineHamar StationStøren StationDieselOperated route Oslo S–Hamar–Røros–TrondheimSørland LineDrammen StationStavanger StationElectricOperated route Oslo S–Kristiansand–Stavanger (588 km)Arendal LineArendal StationNelaug StationElectric()Branch to the Sørland LineOriginally part of the Treungen LineVestfold LineDrammen StationEidanger StationElectricOperated route (Lillehammer–)Oslo S–SkienØstfold LineOslo SKornsjø StationElectricOperated route Oslo S–Halden/–SwedenContinues as Norway/Vänern LineFollo LineOslo SSki StationElectric2022-12-11Parallel line to the Østfold LineEastern Østfold LineSki StationRakkestad StationElectricOperated route Oslo S–Rakkestad
Freight only lines