NORWAY: The Ministry of Transport has asked railway agency Jernbanedirektoratet to directly award state operator Vy an interim contract to run Lot 1 Sør passenger services for up to five years from the expiry of the current contract with Go-Ahead Group in December 2027.
This interim contract is intended to give time for the ministry and Jernbanedirektoratet to revise the scope and structure of future public service obligation contracts, and to enable the end of dates of multiple operating contacts to be aligned.
The Lot 1 Sør services on the Jærbanen (Stavanger – Egersund), Sørlandsbanen (Stavanger – Oslo) and Arendalsbanen (Nelaug – Arendal) routes are currently operated by Go-Ahead Norge under a competitively tendered contract which began in December 2019 and expires on December 11 2027.
‘While Jernbanedirektoratet carries out the necessary assessments, there is a need to secure the train service’, said Transport Minister Jon-Ivar Nygård on October 22. ‘Therefore, the contract is directly awarded to our state passenger train company Vy in this interim period.’
He said the transition would be smooth for passengers and staff, with no change to employment terms.
He said the government believes that state control is important to ensure good train services, and that it can get a better quality of service by direct awards rather than through competition.
Vy’s contract for the operation of the Flåmsbanen will also expire in December 2027, while SJ Norge’s Lot 2 Nord contract for Dovrebanen, Rørosbanen, Nordlandsbanen and Raumabanen services expires in December 2028. Vy’s Lot 3 Vest contract for the Bergensbanen and Vossebanen in ends December 2029.
In November 2021, the then-newly elected government announced it was cancelling plans for the competitive tendering of further services, and in 2023 Vy was directly awarded a 10-year contract to operate Østlandet services.
