When NSB was being rebranded, there were very few people who knew about it. One of those few was project manager Per Henning Torgersen at Mantena.
In spring 2019, after 126 years, the NSB brand became history when the company was renamed Vy. Prior to the launch, Mantena was contacted about re-branding one of the FLIRT trains for a press conference on 12th March, where the new name and brand would be introduced. However, transporting a 120m long train to a press conference, without the secret getting out, is easier said than done.
On guard
Once the top-secret paint job was completed at Sundland in Drammen, the newly re-branded Vy train was covered up and transported from Drammen to Lodalen the night before the press conference. The following morning the train was scheduled to drive from Lodalen to Oslo S, where an eager press team stood waiting for the news.
– We knew this was great food for the media. Just imagine if a random person had snapped a pic of the train with their mobile and put it out online! Everything would have been ruined, says project manager Torgersen.
He tells of the guarded operation to prevent the train from being graffitied as it travelled from Lodalen to Oslo. That morning, guards walked alongside the train to prevent anyone grabbing a spray-can and leaving their mark.
– It would have looked good if someone had graffitied on the front of the train when it rolled into Oslo S that morning, with the whole of the Norwegian press waiting on the platform, laughs Torgersen. You all know the rest of the story. Everything went as planned, apart perhaps from the noise in the wake of the name choice…
A flexible partner
Mantena is a partner from the early stages of design to the finished product for the branding/rebranding of trains. In addition to assignments for Vy, the company has also collaborated with Go-Ahead on their entry into the Norwegian railway sector. For the Vy project, a new colour was even created, which has been named Vy-green.