Time in Norway

The 15° E meridian passes Norway in the northern part of the country, from north over Vesterålen and Lofoten islands, then Vestfjorden and finally Salten and Saltfjellet, a total distance of about 320 km.

Data for Norway directly from zone.tab of the IANA time zone database.

Norway was comparably late to introduce an official standard time, mainly due to the lack of a railway network connecting the country in an east–west direction.

Throughout Norway, the main means of transport were by cart onshore and ship at sea, both too slow and unpredictable to have an issue with the local time.

The railways from the Eastern terminus (Østbanen) in Oslo used Oslo local time, while the railways from the Western terminus (Vestbanen) used Drammen local time, a difference of 4 minutes.

However, in 1980 summer time was reintroduced (together with Sweden and Denmark), and since 1996 Norway has followed the European Union regarding transition dates.