Bane NOR and the Railway Reform
Bane NOR was incorporated on 01/01/2017 and has a clear responsibility for the national railway infrastructure.
On 12/05/2015 the Norwegian parliament resolved to support a Railway Reform for the purpose of making the railway sector more customer-oriented and efficient. The reform involves a more rational allocation of tasks within the sector, providing a clearer purpose for the various organisational units. This forms the basis for a more commercial approach to the sector, which will allow railway users to experience that their needs are met to a greater extent.
As a result of the Railway Reform, the National Rail Administration was reincorporated as the state-owned company Bane NOR from 01/01/2017. Bane NOR is wholly owned by the state and is responsible for the planning, development, administration, operation and maintenance of the national railway network, traffic management and administration and development of railway property.
During the first quarter of 2017, rolling stock, train maintenance and ticketing will be split out of NSB and moved to separate state-owned companies that supply services to all train operators. ROM Eiendom AS will be transferred from NSB to Bane NOR. NSB will become a pure train operator, competing for service packages on equal terms to other train operators.
A service package is the right to provide services in a given section over a given period of time subject to section-specific conditions. Train operators will compete for such service packages. Fair competition is ensured by providing the train operators with equal access to renting rolling stock from the state-owned rolling stock company and purchasing maintenance services from the state-owned train maintenance company.
In light of the Railway Reform, the Railway Directorate was established as of 01/01/2017 to manage and coordinate the sector. The part of the National Rail Administration's operations that previously worked on the development of future railway services, the national transport plan and overall strategies was transferred to the Directorate. Furthermore, the Railway Directorate is responsible for the implementation of tenders for service packages and the follow up on these.
Read more about the Railway Reform here