Go-Ahead wins rail contract

Press Release

17 October 2018

Go-Ahead wins first rail contract to be awarded in Norway

OSLO, NORWAY- The Go-Ahead Group (GOG) is pleased to have been awarded the Oslo South package by the Norwegian authorities and the Norwegian Railway Directorate, the first rail contract to be let by the country.

The contract includes services in Sørlandsbanen, Arendalsbanen, and Jærbanen in close cooperation with the Kolumbus public transport company, covering a mixture of long-distance and suburban routes.

It is an eight year contract (plus an optional two year extension) beginning in December 2019 and comprises 5.5 million train kilometres.  

David Brown, Chief Executive Officer at Go-Ahead said, "We are delighted to be given this opportunity to deliver Norway's first contracted rail services. This is part of our targeted international strategy. 

"We look forward to working with the Norwegian authorities to bring our international rail expertise and our customer knowledge together to deliver reliable and comfortable local services." 

Go-Ahead's devolved structure and locally focussed strategy will be led in Norway by Magnus Hedin and Cathrine Elgin. They will build a local team in Oslo, focussed on delivering new, modern and comfortable journeys for customers.

The Norwegian contract further builds on Go-Ahead's international footprint, which has already seen the FTSE-250 listed transport operator launch bus services in Ireland and Singapore and win four rail contracts in Germany.

Magnus Hedin, Director of Go-Ahead Nordic commented: "Our focus is on customer satisfaction, reliability and local decisions taken with our partners.

"We want to be a local operator who understands Norwegian transport needs and the local Norwegian customers, while benefiting from extensive experience in the UK."

This contract builds momentum towards the 15% Group operating profit target by 2022 and contributes annualised revenue of £70m to the £250m already secured. 

Notes to editors  

For more information please contact:

For further information:Burson-MarstellerMark [email protected] 904 401

Go-Ahead press office[email protected]020 7799 8999

About Go-Ahead

Go-Ahead is a leading UK public transport operator, providing high quality services in the bus and rail sectors. Employing around 29,000 people across the country, over one billion passenger journeys are undertaken on our services each year. We are committed to operating our companies in a safe, socially and environmentally responsible way and are proud to have been accredited with triple Carbon Trust Standard for reductions in carbon, water and waste. In addition to the travelling public, our customers include the Department for Transport, Transport for London (TfL) and local authorities.