Currently, there is a total of 12 freight trains that run on the Oslo-Bergen route daily.

“In general, we experience that our customers want to move more of their volume from road to rail. Deliveries on the Bergen Line have also been stable since spring 2025, without closures and disruptions that stop the flow of transport on the railway, says Commercial Director Carl Fredrik Karlsen at CargoNet. “The start of the year has been good, and our volumes on the Bergen Line in the first two months are 20 percent higher than last year.”

Functioning infrastructure

The topic of closures and disruptions is a delicate one in Norway. It is a major obstacle to the modal shift. In the absence of major infrastructural improvements, Norwegian rail freight companies would go out of business, OnRail’s CEO had claimed earlier. When things do work, results like the 60% modal share are attainable.

Part of the Oslo-Bergen success story also has to do with Norway’s geography. “We see that the Bergen Line, together with the Ofot Line, is the section that is most resistant to competition from road traffic”, commented OnRail CEO Henning Aandal. “This is due to the fact that the Bergen Line crosses the high mountains between east and west. This of course presents challenges for both road and rail, but in general the rail is more robust than the roads on this section.” Moreover, rail also provides faster transit than road transportation.

On the other hand, OnRail, which also uses the Oslo-Bergen line, said it tried to provide some alternatives by having the goods transported by rail between Oslo and Stavanger. From there, trucks would take them via road to Bergen. “There is a backlog, but Onrail is operating as normal”, Aandal highlighted.

The accident

A freight train operated by OnRail derailed just inside the Arnanipa Tunnel. The cleanup process started on Sunday 24 March, after Norwegian police and the National Accident Investigation Board concluded their on-site inspections. The accident caused significant damage, but luckily nobody was seriously hurt. Only the train driver, who is treated as a suspect together with a person who helped set up the train, suffered minor injuries. The dynamic of the accident is still unclear and under investigation. What is currently known is that the train might have ran a red light and that a diverting switch struck, forcing it to derail. However, it is not clear which of the two events happened first.

Once the cleanup of the scene was finished and the damaged train was removed, Bane NOR was able to start repairing the damaged infrastructure. “Among other things, we have laid 3,000 metres of signal cable, made several hundred cable joints, changed many sleepers, built a new catenary system and carried out dozens of rail welds”, Bane NOR said. It needs to be mentioned that the derailment might have led to a massive tragedy, as a passenger train, loaded with 200 people, was coming from the opposite direction inside the tunnel. However, a last-minute emergency call allowed the passenger convoy to stop safely one kilometre from the derailed locomotive.

Also read:

• How can Sweden enhance rail freight capacity along the Öresund axis?
• Iron Ore Line to fully reopen this week after derailment
• What is the future of the Oslo-Gothenburg line?