History
State ownership of railways was at first through partial ownership of the many lines built during the 1860s and 1970s; by 1883, the authorities decided to create the Norwegian State Railways (NSB) that would own and operate most lines. By the 1960s, passenger transport on private railways was abolished, and only a few private lines remained; the last, Kirkenes–Bjørnevatnbanen, was closed in 1997. Since then the agency has operated all railway lines in the country, except tramways and the Oslo T-bane, that are operated by their respective counties.
The National Rail Administration was created on 1 December 1996 when Norges Statsbaner was split into two agencies, the Norwegian National Rail Administration and the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate, and one limited company, NSB BA. Until 1 July 1999, NSB and the administration continued to have the same board and the same director, Osmund Ueland.
By 1899, NSB had a copper communication wires spanning the entire network. In 1985, NSB and Televerket agreed to build a national network of optical fiber that would span the entire railway network. This remained part of Jernbaneverket until 2001, when it was transferred to the subsidiary BaneTele. The same year it bought the bankrupt telecom company Enitel, and the whole subsidiary transferred to the Norwegian Ministry of Trade and Industry in 2002.
In 2005, the maintenance division was demerged, and established as the limited company Baneservice, owned directly by the ministry. This was part of a program initiated by the conservative-liberal government to privatize the maintenance of the tracks, by forcing the administration to perform tenders; similar policies were being enforced on the Public Roads Administration and Coastal Administration. The process of privatizing the work of 1,100 employees was discontinued after the 2005 election, following the victory of the socialist coalition government.
Read more about this topic: Norwegian National Rail Administration
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