A/S Akersbanerne was a municipal owned company that operated tramways in the former Municipality of Aker in current

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

. The company was established in 1917, and opened the suburban

Østensjø Line The Østensjø Line ( no, Østensjøbanen) is a line on the Oslo Metro which runs from Brynseng to Mortensrud. It further shares track with the Lambertseter Line along the section from Tøyen to Brynseng. The line runs through the primary re ...

tramway in 1926; it took over the majority ownership of

Holmenkolbanen A/S Holmenkolbanen was a company that owned and operated part of the Oslo Tramway and Oslo Metro in Norway from 1898 until 1975 when services were taken over by the majority owner Oslo Sporveier. Holmenkolbanen opened the Holmenkoll Line in 1898, ...

in 1933, that owned the

Holmenkoll Line The Holmenkollen Line ( no, Holmenkollbanen) is an Oslo Metro line which runs between Majorstuen and Nordmarka in Oslo, Norway. Operating as Metro Line 1, it is the route with the fewest passengers and the only one still to have level crossi ...

, Sognsvann Line and the

Røa Line The Røa Line ( no, Røabanen) is a rapid transit line of the Oslo Metro, Norway, which runs from Majorstuen in Oslo to Østerås in Bærum. It serves neighborhoods such as Smestad, Hovseter, Huseby and Røa in northwestern Oslo, and Grini, � ...

. Akersbanerne merged with

Oslo Sporveier AS Oslo Sporveier is a defunct municipal owned company responsible for public transport in Oslo, Norway. It was created in 1924 to take over the city's two private tram companies. In 1927 its started with bus transport, including from 1940 to 19 ...

in 1949, following the merger of the municipalities.

History

The company was founded on 7 June 1917 to coordinate the construction of new suburban tramways from Kristiania (now Oslo) to the new

suburb A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separate ...

s in Aker. The company planned to build several lines from the end of the street tramways in the city, and extend them on grade-separated right-of-way. The first project was the Østensjø Line; with construction starting in 1922 it opened from

Vålerenga Vålerenga () is a neighbourhood in the city of Oslo, Norway, belonging to the borough of Gamle Oslo. Vålerenga is located between the neighbourhoods of Gamlebyen, Jordal, Ensjø, Etterstad and Lodalen. Vålerenga is in particular known for it ...

to Bryn on 18 December 1923 and to

Oppsal Oppsal is a suburb in the borough of Østensjø in Oslo, Norway. The modern history of Oppsal starts with villas and summer homes built during the Interwar period. The Oslo Tramway was extended to Oppsal in 1926. Oppsal was developed as a planne ...

on 10 January 1926. For the first three years street trams operated by

Kristiania Sporveisselskab A/S Kristiania Sporveisselskab or KSS, nicknamed the Green Tramway ( no, Grønntrikken), was an operator of part of the Oslo Tramway from 1875 to 1924. The company was established in 1874 and started with horsecar operations on the Ullevål Hageb ...

went the 1.5 km route to Bryn, but after the full line opened, Akersbanerne could never reach agreement with

, and not until 1937 did they run trams into the city center. Also in 1922 the company started building the Sognsvann Line, and in 1924 it bought the

Smestad Line Smestad may refer to the following locations: *Smestad, Oslo in Oslo, Norway **Smestad (station) Smestad is a station shared by the Røa Line (line 2) and the Kolsås Line (line 3) on the Oslo T-bane system. Although the two lines continue to ...

from A/S Holmenkolbanen. In 1928 the Sognsvann Line and the

were extended from

Majorstuen Majorstuen is a particularly affluent neighbourhood in the Frogner borough in the inner part of Oslo, Norway. Majorstuen is known for its vibrant downtown and especially its shopping area. The area has several elegant townhouses c. 1880–1890. T ...

Nationaltheatret The National Theatre in Oslo ( no, Nationaltheatret) is one of Norway's largest and most prominent venues for performance of dramatic arts. History The theatre had its first performance on 1 September 1899 but can trace its origins to Christiani ...

, but the builder A/S Holmenkolbanen had acquired so much debt in the process that they on 16 November 1933 were forced to save the company by merging the Sognsvann and Smestad Line into Akersbanerne—giving the latter a majority ownership stake in the former. From 4 January 1937

Bærumsbanen A/S Bærumsbanen was a tram company that operated the Lillaker-, Kolsås and Østensjø Line of the Oslo Tramway, Norway, from 1924 to 1971 when the company became part of Oslo Sporveier. History In 1924 the two street tram operators in Oslo, Kr ...

took over the operation of trams on the Østensjø Line, though the ownership of the line remained with Akersbanerne. On 1 January 1948 the municipalities of Oslo and Aker merged, and on 31 May 1949 the two municipal owned companies merged, taking the name of Oslo Sporveier.

References

{{Authority control Railway companies established in 1917 1917 establishments in Norway Railway companies disestablished in 1949 Companies based in Oslo Companies formerly owned by municipalities of Norway Defunct railway companies of Norway Oslo Tramway operators