Trondheim Tramway Controversy - Reincarnation

Reincarnation

Friends of the Gråkall Line (Norwegian: Gråkallbanens venner) was founded 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 Gråkallbanen AS 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 matter was re-considered on 31 August, it passed with 42 votes against 40. 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-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 is was possible to purchase used articulated trams for DEM 20,000 from the Stuttgart Stadtbahn. The company took the press with it to Stuttgart to negotiate the agreement, and the following Adresseavisen 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.