NORWAY’s state-owned rolling stock leasing company Norske Tog has summoned senior management from Alstom to a meeting in Oslo on March 2, after the manufacturer suspended local testing of the type N05 EMU that it is supplying due to bogie faults detected during laboratory testing.

Under a contract awarded in 2021 for the supply of up to 200 trains, Norske Tog has ordered a total of 55 six-car Coradia Stream for the Nordics EMUs which are due to enter service in June. The new fleet comprises 36 trains to operate L1 local services from Spikkestad to Lillestrøm, and L2 from Stabekk to Ski, as well as 16 trains for regional services in eastern Norway.

During laboratory testing, bogies for the new trains are subjected to fatigue tests, and Norske Tog says that it is currently unclear whether the weakness detected is present in several bogies. Until the matter has been clarified, all testing has been suspended.

Norske Tog says that the amount of force that the bogies are required to withstand is clearly set out in the contract with Alstom, which is responsible for ensuring that these requirements are met.

“We will follow up very closely through frequent status meetings with Alstom going forward,” says Norske Tog CEO, Øystein Risan. “A team of bogie and brake engineers from Norske Tog is travelling to Alstom to follow up on the situation.

“The project has already experienced significant delays,” Risan says. “If the identified weakness in the bogie leads to further delays, this will trigger new sanctions under the contract, as the matter is within Alstom's responsibility and risk.”

In response, Alstom said in statement provided to IRJ that during the testing of materials for the new fleet, a potential irregularity was identified in a component provided by a respected European sub-supplier. While testing by the supplier showed compliance, Alstom’s own internal testing and quality control processes revealed non-compliance with the standard required.

Alstom has therefore temporarily suspended fleet testing as a precautionary measure until further investigation is completed. The company says it is fully committed to the N05 project and is working closely with Norske Tog, infrastructure manager Bane Nor, and fleet operator Vy, while making every effort to move forward with its testing regime.

Earlier delays

In November 2025 Norkse Tog said that it was working closely with Alstom after the manufacturer warned of a further delay of up to seven months overall and a 12-week delay to the testing programme itself. Initial delays were caused by problems at Alstom’s subcontractors, according to Norske Tog, as well as “challenges” in new train production.

Norske Tog noted that other major Alstom customers in Europe were experiencing delays in new fleet projects, highlighting supply chain disruption resulting from the war in Ukraine “which has caused train manufacturers, among others, to struggle.”

Whilst acknowledging that “it has always been a tight schedule,” Risan said that Norske Tog expected Alstom to do all that it could to ensure that deliveries arrived as quickly as possible.

“We believe that there is no reasonable reason for a seven-month delay,” Risan said. “At the same time, we see in retrospect that we should have been more critical of Alstom's strict test plan, in order to have a better balance between the need for rapid testing and the consideration of having a feasible plan.”

The first train arrived in Norway in June 2025, in order to undergo extensive testing under local conditions, including winter testing.

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