At the end of August, Mantena will complete the installation of new recliner seats in the carriages on trains operating the long-distance routes in Norway.
Last year, the Storting allocated an additional 80 million kroner to improve services for passengers on the Sørlandsbanen, Nordlandsbanen, Dovrebanen, and Bergensbanen. Train owner Norske tog decided that 230 recliner seats would be installed as a supplement to the sleeping cars in a total of eight carriages. Following a tender process, Mantena was awarded the contract to install the seats in the first six carriages.
Extensive project for Mantena
After several months of intense activity at the workshop in Grorud, Oslo, the installation work is now nearing completion. The last carriages with newly installed recliner seats are scheduled for delivery on August 26.
Mantena’s project manager, Ellen Solaas, describes a comprehensive project carried out in several phases, including preliminary strength calculations and associated modifications of the seat frames to ensure they were robust enough to accommodate the seats from the Czech supplier.
– This project has involved an unusually large number of disciplines, ranging from painting, cleaning, design, and marking to mechanical and electrical work. This has placed particularly high demands on solid project understanding and coordination between the various disciplines, says the project manager.
Efficient installation
Solaas explains that they have received regular deliveries of seats since March and that a total of eleven assemblers and project managers have worked on the assignment. To make the best possible use of resources and personnel allocation, the installers have worked on two carriages at a time for the final four carriages.
– Many employees at Mantena deserve praise for their efforts in this project, says Solaas. She especially highlights team leader for the installers, Magnus Frøystein, who managed to supervise the installers while also working as an electrician himself. She also mentions Daniel Stigen, who managed all technical documentation, and not least, the department manager in the project department, Knut Høistad, who supplied personnel at just the right moments to get seats both out and in.
Flexible and solution-oriented supplier
Norske tog’s project manager, Rune Andreassen, is very satisfied with Mantena’s delivery in the project.
– Mantena is flexible and solution-oriented. They have performed especially well in all areas related to electrical work, as they have experience in these matters and are very familiar with the existing documentation for the vehicles.
