NORWAY: Oslo transport operator Sporveien has awarded CAF a €150m contract to supply 20 three-car metro trainsets to accommodate growing ridership and support expansion of the T-banen network.
The order announced on May 8 includes spare parts, and there are options for a further 90 trainsets.
The M4000 trainsets from CAF’s Inneo family will be adapted for Norway’s weather including snow and temperature extremes. They will have three 1 400 mm wide double doors on each side of the carbody for rapid passenger flows and short dwell times, with multi-functional areas in each car providing space for wheelchair users, prams and bicycles.
All bogies will be powered, and the trains will have onboard batteries to enable them to reach the next station in the event of a power cut and for depot movements. The trains will have passive provision for GoA4 driverless operation if required in the future.
Deliveries are due to start in late 2027, ahead of the opening of the 8 km Fornebu Line in 2029, with all 20 sets to be in service in 2030. They will augment the current fleet of 115 MX3000 trainsets supplied by Siemens Mobility in 2006-14.
’From 2029, new cars will transport people on the Fornebubanen, but they will also run throughout the T-banen network, thus increasing capacity both in the east and west of the city. The T-banen is unbeatable when it comes to both travel time and comfort’, said Sporveien CEO Birte Sjule.
The order was confirmed after the city decided on May 2 to release an additional NKr350m of funding to cover cost increases resulting from a weak exchange rate and higher interest rates since the investment decision was made in February 2022.
It is the third contract that CAF has been awarded in Oslo in recent years, following a 2022 order to supply 183 articulated electric buses and an order for 87 trams which are currently being delivered.
‘The new trams are perceived as attractive and accessible, and I think Oslo people will be very happy with our new T-banen cars too’, said Sjule. ‘They are more modern, offer new functionality, but primarily give sufficient capacity to meet the traffic growth that will come in the next few years.’
The metro carried 112 million passengers in 2023, and annual ridership is expected to increase by 30 million by 2030.
