Jernbaneverket (lit. 'the railway administration') was a government agency responsible for owning, maintaining, operating and developing the Norwegian railway network, including the track, stations, classification yards, traffic management and timetables. Safety oversight was the duty of the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate, while numerous operating companies run trains on the lines; the largest being the state owned passenger company Vy (formerly NSB) and the freight company CargoNet.
The administration operated all railways in Norway, except public station areas and freight terminals built before 1997 and private sidings. All track is standard gauge, with a total of 4,230 kilometres (2,630 mi), of which 2,498 kilometres (1,552 mi) is electrified, and 245 kilometres (152 mi) is double track. The Norwegian Railway Museum was a subsidiary of the rail administration.
On 1 December 1996, NSB was split up; formally NSB and the inspectorate were demerged from the National Rail Administration, and NSB made a limited company. All three became subordinate to the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications. The administration got its own chief executive, Steinar Killi, from 1 July 1999.
On 31 December 2016, as a result of the rail reform of the Conservative lead government coalition, the administration was dissolved and all tasks were transferred to Bane NOR or the Norwegian Railway Directorate. Bane NOR took over ownership of the infrastructure from 1 January 2017.
Contents
History
State ownership of railways was initially through partial ownership of the many lines built during the 1860s and 1870s; by 1883, the authorities decided to create the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) that would own and operate most lines. By the 1960s, passenger transport on private railways was abolished, and only a few private lines remained; the last, the Kirkenes–Bjørnevatn Line, was closed in 1997. Since then the agency has operated all railway lines in the country, except tramways and the Oslo T-bane, that are operated by their respective counties.
During the 1990s, multiple rounds of reforms and restructurings were enacted upon NSB and the Norwegian railway sector, one of which saw the rise of a new organisation model in 1992 under which infrastructure activities were organised principally under regional managers, which were given more responsibility and consequently reinforced by technical and administrative support functions. On 1 December 1996, the National Rail Administration was created via the division of Norges Statsbaner into two agencies, the Norwegian National Rail Administration and the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate, as well as one limited company, NSB BA. Prior to 1 July 1999, NSB and the administration continued to have the same board and the same director, Osmund Ueland.
An early issue for the administration to address was appropriate scaling of its workforce against it activities. Due to the inhospitable winter climate in Norway, many infrastructure activities become unfeasible for months at a time, leading to temporary overcapacity with numerous staff having no assigned work; this was difficult to account for in conventional means of competitive tendering for major maintenance and renewal projects, and came at a considerable premium in terms of both price and productivity. Between 1992 and 2006, there was a gradual yet meaningful reduction in administrative staff and production personnel from 2,100 to 1,350. The administration also anticipated future increases in difficulties pertaining to Norway's climate, as an increase in precipitation would likely lead to more frequent landslides; proactive measures taken to guard against this danger included setting up a comprehensive inventory of landslide-prone sites, the implementation of physical preventative measures in such sites, as well as close cooperation with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute to establish additional weather stations to provide more reliable forecasts. Such measures are intended to boost regional readiness to response to climate-related emergency situations.
Operations
All track in Norway is standard gauge, covering a total distance of 4,230 kilometres (2,630 mi), of which 2,498 kilometres (1,552 mi) is electrified at 15 kV 16.7 Hz AC, and 245 kilometres (152 mi) is double track. The Gardermoen Line, at 64 kilometres (40 mi), is the only high-speed line. The network consists of 716 tunnels, 2,572 bridges and 3,690 level crossings. In 2012, Norway's railways transported 61,121,000 passengers for 3,202 million passenger kilometers and 30,271,000 tonnes of cargo for 3,489 million tonne kilometers. That same year, there were 20 train-related accidents, with two fatalities.
Organization
The administration was divided into a directorate and divisions for infrastructure management, infrastructure construction and traffic management; BaneEnergi is subordinate to the traffic management and was responsible for supplying electricity to the railway companies. Main offices was located in Oslo, while regional offices was located in Bergen, Hamar and Trondheim, while train control areas was also located in Drammen, Kristiansand, Stavanger and Narvik. The administration also ran the Norwegian Railway College in Oslo and the Norwegian Railway Museum in Hamar. The agency had about 2,900 employees.
In 2007, the administration had a revenue of NOK 5,661 million, of which 1,934 M went to operation, 1,369 M to maintenance, 67 M to the Gardermoen Line and 2,291 M to investments. Of the investments 82% went to new lines, notably the Asker Line (25%), Stavanger–Sandnes (17%), Lysaker Station (17%) and Ganddal Yard (8%). The administration received most of its income from the ministry, but railway companies had to pay to use the Gardermoen Line.
Stations
At the time of the demerger, all stations were transferred to NSB, but the administration retained ownership of the platforms. All stations opened after 1996 were owned by the administration; this has caused a complex ownership structure where sections of the stations may have different owners. The operation of all stations was remained at the administration, while the NSB subsidiary Rom Eiendom is responsible for managing the railway unrelated sections of the stations, for instance the shopping center in Oslo Central Station.
Railway companies
The companies that have agreements to access the national railway are Borregård Rail, Cargolink, CargoNet, Flytoget, Green Cargo, Hector Rail, Malmtrafik, Norwegian State Railways, NSB Gjøvikbanen, Ofotbanen, Peterson Rail, SJ, Tågåkeriet and the Valdres Line.
Rolling stock
Jernbaneverket maintained a small fleet of maintenance trains and track inspection railcars themselves. All of Jernbaneverkets trains are yellow and diesel operated. When Baneservice was demerged, they took over most of the maintenance units. Jernbaneverket's stock:
1 Di 3a (snowplow)
3 Di R3 (snowplow and shunter)
2 MZ
2 Skd 225 (shunter)
17 LM2 (catenary inspection)
4 LM4 (catenary rebuilding)
5 LM5 (catenary maintenance)
5 LM6 (catenary maintenance)
1 Roger 300 (track inspection)
1 Roger 1000 (track inspection)
1 YF1 (rescue)