A freight train derailment blocked tracks one through five at Oslo Central Station on Thursday night, compounding severe commuter disruptions across eastern Norway following an earlier electrical ground fault.
The freight train derailed at low speed just before the platform at 10:45 p.m., according to NRK, sending two carriages tipping over multiple tracks. No injuries were reported in the incident.
The accident occurred shortly after a ground fault at Oslo S caused a complete standstill in regional rail traffic. While Bane Nor restored general traffic at 10:05 p.m., the subsequent derailment created fresh bottlenecks affecting Vy, Flytoget, and SJ Norge.
“This is going to take time,” Bane Nor said on its website, as reported by Aftenposten.
Øystein Stavdal Paulsen, press spokesperson for infrastructure manager Bane Nor, told Avisa Oslo that crews must first plan the recovery of the two derailed carriages before lifting them back onto the tracks and inspecting the infrastructure for damage.
Police were initially notified by the train traffic control center at 10:57 p.m. with the assessment that railway personnel were managing the situation independently. Operations Manager Alexander Østerhaug explained to NRK that authorities initially anticipated a minor incident.
“Then we saw that it is more extensive than we got the impression of in the notification,” Østerhaug said, noting that police dispatched a patrol after viewing media photographs revealing container spillage and multiple blocked lines.
Police concluded their preliminary on-site investigations around 3:00 a.m. on Friday, opening a formal case to determine the cause of the accident. The Norwegian Accident Investigation Board has also deployed personnel to examine the site overnight.
Bane Nor announced that a formal update regarding Friday morning rush-hour consequences will be released at 9:00 a.m.
