If Norway can operate a good long-distance railway network, so can New Zealand

There is ample proof that New Zealand's demography and topography do not preclude good passenger rail. It is not uncommon for New Zealanders to return from Europe or East Asia, enthusiastic for the railway technology they encountered there to be introduced here, only to be told that other countries make for unsuitable comparisons. This can be true, but one country is eminently suited to comparison: Norway. It has similar, and indeed more difficult, topography; its population is less than half a million greater than New Zealand's; and its land area, likewise, is only modestly larger (especially when counting only Norway proper, not Svalbard or other possessions). Its largest city, Oslo, has roughly half Auckland's population; second-place Bergen is smaller than Christchurch or Wellington; Stavanger and Trondheim are comparable in size to Hamilton or Tauranga; and no other city has more than 100,000 people.

Norway's railway network is remarkably similar in length to New Zealand's, and also had an investment backlog in the 1980s. Today, Norwegians enjoy regular trains between all the major cities. In early 2020 Oslo had seven departures daily to Stavanger, four to Bergen and four to Trondheim, from where two daily connections ran to Bodø. Many more suburban and regional services exist, and almost none depend on tourism. All this, despite the fact that Norway's only high-speed railway links Oslo with its airport; none of the main intercity trips take under 6.5 hours and Trondheim-Bodø is approximately 10 hours. Inadequate roads or air services cannot explain the superior railway timetable: Norwegian roads are better than New Zealand's and intercity flights are frequent. Like New Zealand, Norway generates much hydroelectric power; unlike New Zealand, however, Norway has electrified many of its railways and is transitioning all non-electrified lines to zero-emission operation with battery trains. If Norway can operate a good long-distance railway network despite great obstacles, so can New Zealand.

- Andre Brett, Can't Get There From Here: NZ Passenger Rail Since 1920, Dunedin, 2021, p.277-8.

See also:
Blog: Norway's greatest resistance hero, 7 September 2013
Blog: The early settlement of Iceland, 16 May 2011
Blog: Norway, 6 August 2008