Norway: Norske Tog announces tender for the supply of 30 trains for 420 million euros
The Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Norske Tog AS, a public company that manages railway transport services, announced a call for tenders to be launched early next year for the purchase of thirty trains for local transport. The trains will serve the Oslo underground railway and the Ski-Oslo-Stabekk line starting from the 2023-2024 two-year period. The call for bids will be published shortly, as soon as the tender’s technical specifications and the railway carriage characteristics have been established.
The contract is estimated to be worth approximately 420 million euros (4.2 billion Norwegian krones) and will probably also provide for an option to purchase an additional 170 local trains. Once the tender procedure has been completed, Norske Tog AS expects to be able to sign the contract to purchase the first lot of railway carriages by the end of 2020, so as to put them in operation by the end of 2023, at least in part. The new local trains will have to have a maximum length of 110 metres and a transport capacity of approximately 700-800 passengers.
The call for tenders falls under the government programme to upgrade the Norwegian infrastructure network pursuant to the directives and priorities set out by the national transport plan recently adopted. According to managers in both the Ministry of Transport and Norske Tog AS, the supply of new trains, along with more frequent departures and the construction of double tracks on more extensive rail segments will help improve the quality of life of local users and boost the significant economic growth under way in Southern Norway, starting from the metropolitan area of Oslo.