The Norwegian National Rail Administration has acquired operational responsibility for freight terminals and continues to invite competitive bidding for the operation.

The purchase agreement, signed last week with RailCombi, includes the permanent loading cranes at Alnabru and all other railway infrastructure in terminals in Norway, i.e. all tracks, sleepers and signalling systems.

“Whereas terminals have previously been divided into public and private parts, everything will now become public and be managed by the Norwegian National Rail Administration”, explained Kjell Maudal, Head of Terminals at the Norwegian National Rail Administration.

“With uniform management and coordination of all areas in the terminal we will be able to facilitate greater competition for terminals”, Maudal added.

The background to the acquisition is an assignment letter from the Norwegian Ministry of Transport and Communications, dated 4 July this year, which states:

[…] Operational responsibility for the railway freight terminals […] will be transferred to the Norwegian National Rail Administration and the actual operations will be advertised for competitive tendering.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Transport and Communications also requests a plan of how the competitive tendering will be implemented to ensure that the government achieves the most efficient competition for the operation of the terminals.

“At times it has been hectic but there has been a constructive dialogue between the parties throughout”, he stated. “In addition to quick delivery, Maudal and the Norwegian National Rail Administration have also been successful in solving the task at a lesser cost than originally anticipated. The government allocated 23.2 million Norwegian kroner to the task in the revised national budget. We ended up solving the task at a lower cost level than expected.”

Several phases remain

“The signing of these contracts conclude the initial part of the assignment from the ministry”, concluded Maudal. Local agreements will be entered into for each terminal.

“We will enter into dialogue with the freight industry in order to identify the most optimal solutions to ensure competition on the terminals”, said Maudal in conclusion.

(Source: JBV, Jernbaneverket)