Total cost of winter maintenance on national roads in Norway amounts to 850 mill. NOK. This is about 35 per cent of the budget for maintenance and operation. Being such a large part of the total activity, it was chosen to start with training programs on this topic. In order to exercise the responsibility of being the road authority, it is important to secure skills at all levels. An important measure to achieve a good result, both with respect to improved quality and economy, is to provide sufficient training programs. The most common way of training has traditionally been done on the job. The quality of this type of training is very much dependant on the individual supervisor, and may be good, or not so good. Training programs have been made in recent years for most parts of winter maintenance and operations based on the following assumptions: (1) large need for systematic training; (2) need for courses on all topics relating to winter activities; and (3) different needs for different groups of personnel. The Norwegian Public Roads Administration has for some time worked out courses for different parts of winter maintenance. We have so far provided courses relating to snow ploughing and salting/sanding of winter roads. These courses can be taken as a full package, or parts can be taken out and "tailor-made" for different groups of personnel. A lot of effort has been put into getting teachers who both master the educational and technical skills. Interactive programs are also being developed to get a more flexible system for personnel training. This is quite new, so there is so far little experience. But we hope for good results in combination with regular courses. We strongly believe that good education of personnel will give good return on the resources we invest in this. Also the quality of the work done will be improved, and our customers will be more satisfied. Traditionally winter maintenance has been carried out by in-house work force. During the reorganisation of NPRA in 1995 it was decided that an increasing part of maintenance are to be carried out by private contractors. This is a challenge to all stakeholders in the road maintenance field, both the owner side and the contractor side.