Inside Norway’s Revolutionary New Sleeper Train Carriage!

Inside Norway’s Revolutionary New Sleeper Train Carriage!

Tonight we are catching one of Europe’s most 
unique sleeper trains connecting the Norwegian capital Oslo with the fjords and onto the coastal 
town of Bergen overnight. We’ll be traveling in the innovative Plus Night carriage featuring 
23 massive recliner seats similar to those you’d normally only find in airline business 
class. I’m really excited to see what this unique product is all about. So join me for 
the next 8 hours as we head over to Bergen. We begin our journey at Oslo Central Station 
on this beautiful July evening where even at 10 p.m. the sun is yet to come down. Heading 
inside the station from the entrance facing the city’s library and waterfront, we are 
presented with this beautiful railway-themed artwork depicting the stories and human 
moments that unfold on the Ukrainian railway. I certainly wasn’t expecting to see broad gauge 
rolling stock in Oslo. Anyway, inside the station, it’s a bit of a mess. Oslo Central Station is a 
mix of old and new that’s just kind of been pasted together, which does leave a quite confusing 
layout with various sections that just kind of feel disconnected from each other. But there is a 
good selection of retail outlets and shops here, although many of them are closed by the 
time the night train departs. Make sure to check out the old Østbanehallen, which 
is the original station building from 1854, but now it’s just a retail area of the modern 
station. A quick look at the large departure board in the main hall tells us our train is 
scheduled to go from platform 3 tonight. But as we still got a little under an hour 
to go before scheduled departure time, let’s have a look at some of the other 
train traffic around the station. Oslo Central Station is sort of split 
in two with 10 tracks leading to the Oslo Tunnel cutting right below the city, but 
also a slightly smaller dead-end terminal for trains terminating from the east. Both parts of 
the station see a lot of commuter and regional train traffic mostly operated by these many 
Stadler Flirt units. But you do also get the special Flytoget service operating a fast 
connection to and from the airport as well as long-distance train services like this 
SJ Nord service arriving in from Trondheim. And as I calmly sat and waited for our 
train to arrive into platform number three, but somebody decided it was funny instead 
to put the train in on a completely opposite platform. Oh well, at least I’m not a 
family of four carrying 20 suitcases. So, I made the jog over to the other platform 
through this rather creepy service tunnel. Our train tonight will be pulled by this 
El 18 locomotive built by Adtranz and SLM around 1996. They are capable of 200 km/h, 
featuring a grey livery showcasing some of the sights you can see along various Norwegian 
railway routes. Before we board and check out the unique Plus Night carriage, let’s 
see the other overnight travel options. There is a few seated carriages, but I can’t say I 
recommend this if you’re doing the full overnight journey to Bergen. There’s also the option 
to get a proper sleeping compartment for two people or one of the limited six-person couchette 
compartments, but these are often very expensive. So, does Plus Night make a great middle ground? 
I’m excited to find out. So, let’s head on board. [Music] The Plus Night cabin comes in a spacious 1 plus 1 layout with these massive seats. They 
are unlike anything I’ve seen previously on European rail. In fact, they seem more 
like modern airplane business class seats. Bags can either be placed on the rack above 
the seat, but there’s also space for them under the ottoman, but this area will be 
inaccessible when the seat is reclined. Waiting at every seat is a bottle of water 
along with the bedding and amenity kit. We’ll take a proper look at the amenity kit 
and the train’s other features after departure, which today is 2 minutes behind schedule at 
22:54. We leave the station heading east, which those of you who are slightly familiar with 
the Bergen Railway or geography in general will know is the wrong way. That’s because tonight 
our train is diverted via the Gjøvik Line, which I’ll explain more about as we 
now head in to the route map segment. Train 605 leaves Oslo, normally 
heading via the city tunnel and Drammen to join the Bergen line at 
Hønefoss. But because of track works, we are taking the Gjøvik Line instead, rejoining 
the normal route at Hønefoss and continuing our 460 km long journey that’s scheduled to 
take 7 hours 35 minutes to reach Bergen. This gives the train an average speed of 
61 kilometers per hour. Traveling by night train during the summer in Norway is always a 
special experience thanks to the late sunsets. As I had an early dinner in Oslo, I was 
feeling a bit hungry by now. So before it’s time to really test out these seats, 
let’s go to the dining car for a snack. The carriage we are walking through now is 
also a recent addition to Norway’s railways, being a former German couchette carriage. 
It’s a nice addition given before it was only possible to book two-bed sleepers. And 
it’s also been repurposed as a huge luggage storage carriage with lots of space 
for bikes, skis, and bulky luggage. Anyway, off to the cozy café car we go. What a cozy vibe there’s here this late 
at night. On offer is a selection of pre-packaged cold items, ideal 
for taking back to your seat, but you can also order warm options with the 
staff at the counter. Unfortunately, there were some issues with the card payment system 
tonight, so I had to leave empty-handed. But I didn’t have any issues paying on my train back 
to Oslo where I had one of the pizzas on offer. Back here in the Plus Night carriage, 
it’s almost time to go to bed. I really like the dim ambiance in the carriage. The 
subtle lights along the floor and on the side of the seat are just enough to navigate 
through the carriage without disturbing other passengers. You can also really tell that 
these seats were designed for an airplane. They even have the small step that’s used to 
help crew and passengers reach the overhead bins. Converting the seat into bed mode is super easy. 
You just simply press and hold this button. And unlike every other first class seat in Europe, 
this one goes fully flat. We’ll take a proper look at the seat in more detail tomorrow when 
the lighting conditions are a bit better. The amenity kit contains some thoughtful items like an 
inflatable pillow, eye-shades, a blanket, as well as earplugs. Although this pillow was borderline 
useless, I ended up just folding up my hoodie from my backpack instead. And one final thing 
before bed, a quick look at the shared toilets. As you probably had expected, there’s no 
shower facilities on Plus Night and only a shared toilet, but the toilets 
were kept clean throughout the night and everything remained 
functional and fully working. And with a quick hand and face wash 
done, it’s time for me to get some sleep. Good morning from the fjords. I managed a solid 5 
hours of sleep, which I thought was pretty good. We are currently coming up on our station stop in 
Dale, running a little behind schedule thanks to some cascading delays following issues on the line 
yesterday night. And while I would normally prefer to sleep a little longer as we still got about 
50 minutes before we reach Bergen, it would be a great shame not to catch some of this beautiful 
scenery on the final stretch into Bergen. I slept pretty well for the limited hours 
available on this short night train journey. The bed was long enough for a 187 cm tall guy 
like myself. And while there are a few folds in the bed, they did not bother me at all as 
overall the seat was extremely well padded. And of course, once you’re done sleeping, 
it converts back into a massive throne of a seat for you to sit on for the rest of the 
journey, which of course can also be reclined only partially to offer a really comfortable 
position for relaxing and enjoying the scenery. The seat is also equipped with a small table 
that folds out from the armrest like this. You’ll also find one European power outlet in the 
armrest as well as an adjustable reading light. There’s also lots of small areas to 
store personal items and pretty much unlimited leg room. Overall, I think this is 
an excellent seat and I definitely wouldn’t mind spending a night here again or 
even a long daytime train journey. While it is possible to purchase a light 
breakfast from the café car on board the train, I would actually recommend you skip this 
and sleep in a little longer. Instead, on arrival in Bergen, head right across the 
street from the station entrance to the Grand Hotel Terminus. Here you can purchase a delicious 
buffet breakfast for a special discounted price by showing your Plus Night ticket. We are now 
coming up on our penultimate stop, Arna. So, it’s time to start summarizing the journey. 
While Plus Night is never going to be as good as a proper sleeping compartment, Vy often 
sells Plus Night for less than half of what a compartment would cost. I personally paid 
839 Norwegian kroner for my ticket, which I thought was good value, especially considering how 
expensive regular accommodation in Norway can be. I found the bed comfortable and while I do 
wish they would provide a better pillow, I would not hesitate to book Plus Night again 
if the price was right. We are now in the 7.6 km long Ulriken Tunnel taking us under the 
mountain watching over Bergen of the same name. Because of the different climate inside the tunnel 
and in the outside world on arrival into Bergen, the windows completely messed up. So there’s not 
much to show for the arrival. We arrive in Bergen at 06:42 about 15 minutes behind schedule after 
what’s been a surprisingly comfortable journey in Plus Night. So what do you think about this 
product and would you spend the night in Plus Night? Let me know in the comments down below. 
In either case, if you have enjoyed this video, make sure to subscribe to the channel as I try 
to post a new video like this every Sunday. You can also follow me over on BlueSky 
at intercitysimon.com. I usually post live from my travels over there in real 
time, so it’s a great place to get a sneak peek at what videos might be coming to the 
channel in the future. Thanks for watching.

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Tonight we are travelling on what might just be one of Europe’s most unique night trains. This is Vy’s night service from Oslo to Bergen in Norway, running along the famous Bergensbanen. A couple of years ago, this train introduced a completely new type of overnight accommodation called “PlusNight” essentially an airline-style business-class seat designed for overnight travel on a train.

Join me in this video as I try out this unique concept and share what I really thought of it.

Train type: El 18 + various seated, sleeper, and of course PlusNight carriages.
Route: Oslo S to Bergen
Train: Rt 605
Distance: 460km
Journey time: 7h35m
Average speed: 61 km/h
Price: 71,40 euro (NOK 839)

00:00 Intro
00:30 Oslo S
02:35 The Train
03:45 First Impressions
04:35 Depature (Special Route)
05:00 Route Map
05:41 Walk to the dining car
06:55 Pleasent Interior Design
07:16 Converting the seat into a bed!
07:38 Amenity Kit
07:57 Toilet Review and Goodnight
08:44 Wakeup (Stunning Scenery)
09:17 Bed and Seat Tour
10:30 Special Breakfast Offer
11:00 Arna Station (Final Thoughts)
11:35 Ulrikken Tunnel + Bergen Arrival

#Travel #Trains #TripReport