transport founded 2008 headquarters stockholm sweden area served scandinavia website www.unionsexpressen.com unionsexpressen the union express was an intercity train service provided between oslo and stockholm the capitals of norway and sweden . the first class only service was operated by company unionsexpressen scandinavian railway ab while haulage and norwegian representation was operated by ofotbanen . in 2005 the state owned sj and norges statsbaner nsb cooperation linx closed services on the oslo stockholm route . the first trial runs of the unionsexpressen started on 11 april 2008 with regular service commencing on 15 june . operations were terminated on 7 october following the bankruptcy of ofotbanen . service edit unionsexpressen legend 0 00 oslo s 0 13 lillestr m 1 10 kongsvinger 2 47 karlstad 3 53 hallsberg 5 04 s dert lje 5 25 stockholm c unionsexpressen was an all first class intercity service which operates between oslo and stockholm . the express competes with the x2000 service provided by sj . the latter has a somewhat longer travel time since it makes more stops along the way . the unionsexpressen trains were hauled by ofotbanen operated rc locomotives leased from sj . each train had four cars of which three were open seating and one was a dining car . the service had higher prices than the sj service but instead offers more luxury . the founders stated that the service is inspired by the orient express . with a full restaurant on board fresh made meals can be purchased along with beverages . the seating compartments are newly renovated with wooden interior three abreast seating and wi fi . 1 on weekdays there was a single daily round trip leaving oslo in the morning and returning in the afternoon . on saturdays the line only operated from oslo to stockholm and on sundays only from stockholm to oslo . stops were provided at lillestr m and kongsvinger in norway and karlstad hallsberg and s dert lje in sweden . travel time from oslo to stockholm was 5 hours and 25 minutes . 2 history edit with the termination of nsb s and sj s cooperation linx on the oslo stockholm route in january 2005 ofotbanen announced they would be willing to take over operation of the route from the summer . 3 however sj and nsb held monopolies on non subsidized passenger trains services in their respective countries and it would not be possible for a private company to operate the route . 4 in may 2007 ofotbanen announced its plans for the oslo stockholm train after necessary permissions had been granted from norwegian and swedish authorities who decided to allow free competition on international routes . by then sj had already reopened its route on the line . 5 in march 2008 plans had been launched to start operations in april but ofotbanen did not met the requirements to get a safety license from the inspectorates . 6 the company rented rolling stock from sj including an rc locomotives and newly renovated cars from the 1960s . 7 8 the union express at lillestr m the necessary certificates were granted on 10 april and the first trial run was made the following day . ordinary service started on 25 april though without the dining car . the initial price was nok 422 and travel time was 5 hours 45 minutes . 9 0 from 15 june full service was introduced and the price increased to nok 593 . 1 10 by july ofotbanen had still not found a locomotive for the second train and was still operating only a single round service . passenger numbers were at 35 per departure far from the capacity of 84 and the necessary annual 100 000 needed to make a profit . 11 following the bankruptcy in ofotbanen on 7 october all service was halted . the owners have reestablished ofotbanen under the new entity ofotbanen drift but sj has withdrawn the leasing of the locomotive . the service was therefore never re established . 12 references edit a b larsen fredrik 6 may 2008 . tog krig mellom norge og sverige . aftenposten in norwegian . archived from the original on 5 may 2010 . retrieved 5 may 2010 . unionsexpressen . timetable . archived from the original pdf on 5 may 2010 . retrieved 5 may 2010 . rapp ole magnus 2005 01 05 . vil overta ruten oslo stockholm . aftenposten . p. 14 . r dt lys for stockholm tog . aftenposten aften . norwegian news agency . 2005 02 14 . p. 8 . halvorsen bj rn egil 2007 05 01 . ta ofotbanen oslo stockholm . aftenposten aften . p. 8 . norwegian broadcasting corporation 19 march 2008 . togselskap f r ikke godkjenning in norwegian . archived from the original on 5 may 2010 . retrieved 5 may 2010 . krog klaes 8 february 2008 . ofotbanen satser nytt tog til stockholm . verdens gang in norwegian . archived from the original on 5 may 2010 . retrieved 5 may 2010 . pner togrute oslo stockholm . moss avis in norwegian . 2008 03 14 . retrieved 12 january 2009 . boarding.no 26 april 2008 . unionsexpressen har startet oslo stockholm in norwegian . archived from the original on 5 may 2010 . retrieved 5 may 2010 . reiseredaksjonen 17 july 2008 . luksusen er p skinner . din side in norwegian . archived from the original on 5 may 2010 . retrieved 5 may 2010 . hages ther p l v. 2008 07 21 . sliter med billettsalget . aftenposten . p. 12 . unionsexpressen . ny och viktig information in swedish . archived from the original on 5 may 2010 . retrieved 5 may 2010 . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title unionsexpressen & oldid 647155116 categories railway companies established in 2008defunct railway companies of swedencompanies based in stockholmhidden categories cs1 norwegian language sources no cs1 swedish language sources sv navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload 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