The Trondheim-Oslo short-haul flight route is among the most popular ones in Norway.

With more than 2,100,000 passengers in 2019, it is an often-used choice for travellers between eastern and central Norway. The route sees more than 25 percent more passengers than Norway’s most used international flight route, the one to Copenhagen.

However, as a recent Europe-wide Greenpeace report that compared the prices of plane and train tickets, the Trondheim-Oslo flight route has a good train alternative – if you’re willing to put in some extra time.

Price comparison

As the environmental organisation pointed out in its report, there are around six direct train connections between Trondheim and Oslo a day.

Train prices are not that different compared to airline tickets, as they usually come at 700-800 kroner.

However, if travellers were to opt for the train alternative, the total annual greenhouse gas emissions would be cut by roughly 110,000 tonnes of gases.

That’s equivalent to the yearly emissions of 74,000 fossil-fuelled cars, which would account for almost all the car emissions of Trondheim, one of Norway’s largest cities.

The downside is that the train ride, unsurprisingly, takes longer. The fastest day train (there’s also one night option) takes over six and a half hours.

Rated a ‘great train route’ alternative

As on most air routes in Norway, Norwegian and SAS compete with each other for passengers. In addition, the regional carrier Widerøe – which is supposed to be acquired by Norwegian according to a July 2023 corporate announcement – also operates on the route.

Despite this competition, the train option was always cheaper than the flight. According to Greenpeace’s analysis, the three mid-term trips cost roughly the same for train and plane travel, at ca. 700 vs 800 kroner, respectively.

While the difference isn’t big at around 13 percent, the report labelled the train route a “great train route.”

You can find more information about the train and bus travel options between Oslo and Trondheim on Vy’s website.

The full Greenpeace report can be found on the organisation’s website.