Boreal Bane AS, trading, and formerly known as, AS Gråkallbanen, is a Norwegian company that operates the remaining part of the
Trondheim Tramway
The Trondheim Tramway in Trondheim, Norway, is the world's most northerly tramway system, following the closure and dismantling of the Arkhangelsk tramways in Russia. It consists of one line, the Gråkallen Line, running from St. Olav's Gate ...
, Norway. It operates six trams on the
Gråkall Line, that connects the city centre to parts of the suburb of
Byåsen
Byåsen is a large neighborhood area in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It constitutes a large part of the city in the borough of Midtbyen in Trondheim Municipality. It encompasses a number of areas southwest of the main cit ...
, and the recreational area at
Lian
Lian may refer to:
Fiction
* Gao Lian (''Water Margin''), a character in the ''Water Margin'' series of novels
* Lian the Great (, ''Dalian''), a figure in Chinese mythology
* Jia Lian, a character in the novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''
Peop ...
. It has 800,000 annual passengers, and operates as Line 1. The trams operate each 15 minutes during the day, and each 30 minutes in the evenings and during the weekends.
The company took over the last remaining part of the tramway in 1990, after the former operator
Trondheim Trafikkselskap had closed the Gråkall and
Lade Line in 1988. The company took over the trams and the track, and claimed it could operate without municipal subsidies. In 2005, Gråkallbanen was bought by
Veolia Transport Norge
Boreal Norge AS (formerly Veolia Transport Norge AS and Connex Norge AS) is a Norwegian public transport operator. Established as a subsidiary of CGEA Transport in 1999, it operates through its subsidiaries buses, ferries and trams in the count ...
, renamed Veolia Transport Bane AS in 2008, and launched aggressive plans to take over the bus transport in Trondheim. Veolia Transport Norge was demerged to become Boreal Transport Norge in May 2011, and Veolia Transport Bane became Boreal Transport Bane AS.
In November 2012, the company name was changed again, to Boreal Transport Midt-Norge AS, as a preparation for a coming
PSO contract with
AtB ATB or atb may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ATB (DJ) (born 1973), German DJ and music producer
* Active Time Battle, a role-playing video game mechanic
* Andy Timmons Band, a band led by guitarist Andy Timmons
* Atelier-Théâtre Burkinab ...
. From August 2013, the company also operated regional buses in major parts of
Sør-Trøndelag
Sør-Trøndelag (; ) was a Counties of Norway, county comprising the southern portion of the present-day Trøndelag county in Norway. It bordered the old Nord-Trøndelag () county as well as the counties of Møre og Romsdal, Oppland, and Hedmark. ...
. In 2016, the bus operations were moved to another Boreal subsidiary and the company was once again renamed, this time to ''Boreal Bane AS''.
History
Background
In 1988 the
city council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...
in Trondheim decided to close the
Trondheim Tramway
The Trondheim Tramway in Trondheim, Norway, is the world's most northerly tramway system, following the closure and dismantling of the Arkhangelsk tramways in Russia. It consists of one line, the Gråkallen Line, running from St. Olav's Gate ...
and replace it with
diesel
Diesel may refer to:
* Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression
* Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines
* Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...
buses to save money. This was despite that the council just four years earlier had spent more than
NOK
Nok is a village in Jaba, Nigeria, Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Nigeria. The village is an archeological site.
Archaeology
The discovery of terracotta figurines at this location caused its name to be used for the Nok culture, ...
100 million on a new depot and 11 new tram cars.
The bus service in Byåsen was complicated. A temporary feeding bus was established on Gamle Oslovei and Vådanveien. Breidablikk received its own line, while another served along Uglaveien from
Munkvoll to
Herlofsonløypa. After the tramway was reasphalted, the bus continued to along the old right-of-way to
Lian
Lian may refer to:
Fiction
* Gao Lian (''Water Margin''), a character in the ''Water Margin'' series of novels
* Lian the Great (, ''Dalian''), a figure in Chinese mythology
* Jia Lian, a character in the novel ''Dream of the Red Chamber''
Peop ...
.
Bygrensen was not served by any buses.
Initiative

Henry H. Tørhaug, a former tram user who lived at Bygrensen, took initiative to start Friends of the Gråkall Line () in October 1988. It attracted many local people in Byåsen who were dissatisfied with the bus service, along with many tram enthusiasts, and politicians from Bylista. This resulted in AS Gråkallbanen being founded. It proposed a more rational operation of the line, limited to the remaining right-of-way from
St. Olavs Gate to Lian. The company offered a back door to several politicians, since it claimed it could operate the tram without municipal subsidies.
On 22 June 1989, the city council voted to re-open the line from St. Olavs Gate to Lian. After the mater was re-considered on 31 August, it passed with 42 against 40 votes. The company was free to receive subsidies from the county and the state. The new company started negotiating with TT about the details of the take-over. In particular, the number of trams to be used was a difficult matter. Gråkallbanen wanted all eleven, while TT only would give up six. In the end the politicians voted to give seven to the new company. Since the tram lines were presumed to be kept for the museum line, Gråkallbanen was not charged the extra NOK 135,000 for maintaining the tracks on the roads. The city also accepted to take economic responsibility for the heritage trams. During the discussions, TT demanded that the municipality pay NOK 23.8 million for the trams, depots and other material, but this was rejected by the city. The city also chose to give NOK 5 million to Gråkallbanen as a one-time payment, equal to the subsidies they were giving TT to operate the new bus routes in Byåsen. The negotiated agreement was passed with 51 against 34 votes in the city council.
After all the agreements were in place, TT announced on 30 December 1989 that it had found a new buyer for the trams. An agreement had been made with the
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...
-based Unimex Engineering, who would sell the eleven trams to the
Cairo Tramway. On 2 January 1990, TT sent a letter to Gråkallbanen giving them the option to purchase the trams for the same price as the Egyptions, at an estimated NOK 17–20 million. However, Gråkallbanen pointed out to the politicians that it was possible to purchase used articulated trams for
DEM 20,000 from the
Stuttgart Stadtbahn
The Stuttgart Stadtbahn is a semi-metro system in Stuttgart, Germany. The Stadtbahn began service on 28 September 1985. It is operated by the Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG (SSB), which also operates the Stuttgarter Straßenbahnen AG#Bus system ...
. The company took the press with it to Stuttgart to negotiate the agreement, and the following
Adresseavisen
(; commonly known as ''Adressa'') is a regional newspaper published daily, except Sundays, in Trondheim, Norway. The paper has been in circulation since 1767 and is one of the oldest newspapers in Norway after Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler which ...
presented the cities new trams to the people. However, by the time the delegation had returned, they were informed that the deal had been annulled. Adresseavisen tried to locate Unimex in Copenhagen, but it turned out to be a company that had never sold a tram. At a press conference in Trondheim, the director of TT blamed
Arbeider-Avisa's journalists for the deal not going through. When asked about the matter, representatives from the tramway company in Kairo said that the deal did not go through because the trams did not fit.
Reopening

The final decision to restart the trams was made by the city council on 29 March 1990.
In the meantime, Bylista had changed their political support for the 1989 mayor election. Instead of supporting the
Labour candidate
Per Berge, they instead chose to support
Marvin Wiseth from the
Conservative Party, who took over as mayor 1 January 1990. The reason was that the Labour Party was not willing to give a clear support to the tramway operation. The Conservative Party, on the other hand, was more than willing to support any suggestions that involved privatization. The non-socialist parties succeeded at keeping the mayor until 2003 after this.
On 9 June the overhead wires were powered up, and from 3 July there were test-runs with some of the historic trams. Tracks and substructure were replaced between
Nyveibakken and
Bergsligate. A
ballast tamper
A tamping machine or ballast tamper, informally simply a tamper, is a self-propelled, rail-mounted machine used to pack (or tamp) the track ballast under railway tracks to make the tracks and roadbed more durable and level. Prior to the intr ...
was rented from Germany, and the asphalt from
Kyvannet to Herlofsonløypa was removed. Part of the work was done by volunteers. The night before 6 July, seven of the trams (no. 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 9 and 11) were taken out of the depot at
Lademoen
Lademoen is a neighborhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is situated the borough of Østbyen in Trondheim Municipality, about east of Midtbyen, the city centre of Trondheim. Lademoen was transferred from Strinda M ...
, and moved by truck to Kongens Gate, where they were put onto the Gråkall Line. They were then hauled by the working machine to
Munkvoll. At noon the next day the first tram took a trial run in the city streets. They kept the TT colors, but were given the GB logo. At the same time they were renumbered (90–99, with holes). The official opening was on 18 August 1990, with a parade of historic trams leading the way.
The traffic the first full year was 900,000 passengers annually, which is 20% higher than with the buses. Passenger numbers decreased until 1997, when they started rising somewhat. That year a bus corresponds with the tram at
Breidablikk, and offers a correspondence with
Marienborg
Marienborg, a mid 18th-century country house perched on a small hilltop on the northern shore of Lake Bagsværd, Bagsværd Lake, Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, north of downtown Copenhagen, has served as the official residence of Denmark's Prime ...
,
St. Olavs Hospital and
Øya
Øya is a neighborhood in the city of Trondheim in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is situated the borough of Midtbyen in Trondheim Municipality, just east of Elgeseter. The neighborhood consists of a peninsula formed by the river Nidelva. The co ...
.
During the 2000s, the ridership has stabilized at about 800,000.
Takeover
In 2005, a 67% stake of the company was taken over by
Veolia Transport Norge
Boreal Norge AS (formerly Veolia Transport Norge AS and Connex Norge AS) is a Norwegian public transport operator. Established as a subsidiary of CGEA Transport in 1999, it operates through its subsidiaries buses, ferries and trams in the count ...
(at the time named Connex). Approved by the general assembly on 11 April 2005, Veolia promised additional capital of NOK 10.7 million to the company. It only paid a few million for the shares. In 2005, the municipality made a new ten-year agreement concerning the operation of the tramway. The ownership of the nine trams were transferred to Gråkallbanen, so they no longer needed to pay comprehensive insurance that was at NOK 250,000.
After the Veolia take-over, Gråkallbanen launched several plans to become a larger company in Trondheim. In 2007, it announced that it would apply to take over all bus routes in the city, that at the time were operated by
Team Trafikk (the successor of Trondheim Trafikkselskap). The company has launched several ambitious suggestions for routes to supplement Team Trafikk, but has yet to receive permission to operate any of them. The same year, the
Socialist Left Party announced that it wanted to renationalize the company, but Veolia has said it has no intentions to sell the company back to the city.
Plans
Gråkallbanen has plans expanding the present line from St. Olav's Gate to either Prinsens Gate (one block away) or to
Trondheim Central Station and onwards to
Pirterminalen. This expansion would cost about NOK 80 million and would be paid by the city.
References
External links
Official site
{{Trondheim Tramway
Trondheim Tramway operators
Companies based in Trondheim
Transport companies of Trøndelag
Veolia
Railway companies established in 1988
1988 establishments in Norway