Boreal Bane AS, trading, and formerly known as, AS Gråkallbanen, is a Norwegian company that operates the remaining part of the Trondheim Tramway, Norway. It operates six trams on the Gråkall Line, that connects the city centre to parts of the suburb of Byåsen, and the recreational area at Lian. 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, 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. From August 2013, the company also operated regional buses in major parts of Sør-Trøndelag. 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 in Trondheim decided to close the Trondheim Tramway and replace it with diesel buses to save money. This was despite that the council just four years earlier had spent more than NOK 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. 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.