History of the Oslo Tramway and Metro

In 1894, Kristiania Elektriske Sporvei (KES) built the first electric street tramways, which ran west from the city centre.

The city council established Kristiania Kommunale Sporveie (KKS) in 1899, which built three lines before it was sold to KSS six years later.

The first attempt to introduce horsecar operations in Oslo (at the time called Christiania) were in 1868, when the engineer Jens Theodor Pauldan Vogt and the architect Paul Due applied for a concession.

Twenty-two 4.1-metre (13 ft) long cars were delivered from the United States manufacturer John Stephenson Company, arriving in Christiania on 31 August 1875.

They took delivery of seventeen units, but these were not as suitable as the wagons and the company instead chose to salt the rail tracks.

The John Stephenson and Skabo trailers were taken out of service in 1917–18, and sixteen of these were sold to the Bergen Tramway and Trondheim Tramway—the latter rebuilding them to meter gauge.

On 26 January 1901, a connection line was built from Tollbugaten to Kirkeristen in the city centre to avoid running on KES tracks.

[16] Twenty cars and twelve trailers were bought from Busch with electric components delivered from Schuk—stock that remained in service until 1967.

[17] From 1912, a number of additional connections were built between the KES and KSS networks, and the two companies started cooperating on certain lines.

[11] From 1921 to 1923, KSS bought an additional 22 trams from Hannoversche Waggonfabrik, Brill and Busch, commonly referred to as the HaWa Class.

The tunneling caused the company financial difficulties, resulting in the Smestad Line being sold to Akersbanerne, owned by Aker Municipality.

Construction of the Østensjø Line started in 1922 and opened from Vålerenga eastwards to Bryn on 18 December 1923, and to Oppsal on 10 January 1926.

[31] For the first three years, street trams operated by KSS, and later Oslo Sporveier, ran the 1.5-kilometre (0.93 mi) route to Bryn.

[35] On 31 December 1944, a tram was hit by an airbomb at Drammensveien (now Henrik Ibsens gate) next to the Palace Park, where all passengers but the conductor were killed.

[39] Except from damage to the rail tracks at Frøen caused by a bomb, the Oslo Metro experienced no sabotage actions.

[42] The new company also decided to increase the permitted car width to 2.5 metres (8.2 ft), allowing wider suburban trams to run in the city streets.

During the 1930s, Oslo Sporveier decided it needed more rolling stock, and cooperated with Strømmens Værksted to create the Gullfisk ("Goldfish") class.

Built with an aluminium chassis, they were quick and light, with a distinct streamlined shape, making their back ends look like a goldfish tail.

[48] In 1960, with the deregulation of the sale of cars, cheap diesel and the decision to build the metro, the city council decided to close the tram and the trolleybus networks.

After heavy protests from Ekeberg residents, Oslo Sporveier chose to build a loop in Vognmannsgata in the city centre.

These areas had all been chosen as new suburbs for Oslo, and needed a good public transport system to be put in place quickly.

The system was to feature improvements over the light rail lines: a third rail power supply, cab signaling with automatic train protection, stations long enough for six-car trains and level crossings replaced by bridges and underpasses—specifications christened "metro standard" by Oslo Sporveier.

Sentrum station, located in the heart of the city centre, 0.5 kilometres (0.31 mi) east of Jernbanetorget, opened along with the extension of the metro tunnel in 1977.

The line was meant to create a loop, which eventually would connect to neighbourhoods such as Nydalen and Bjerke north of the city centre.

[29] In July 2004, construction caused a tunnel to collapse on the Grorud Line—the system's busiest—forcing a shutdown of this line until December and creating havoc on the overloaded replacement buses.

[63] The main reason was the 1973 oil crisis, which had made it cheaper to run hydroelectric-powered trams than diesel-powered buses.

[27] In 2002, Oslo Sporveier announced that it would close the Ekeberg, Sinsen, Briskeby and Kjelsås Lines to reduce costs.

The museum is run by a 450-member non-profit organization Lokaltrafikkhistorisk Forening (LTF, "Local Traffic History Association").

[69] It has a museum with 25 trams and 10 buses on display at Majorstuen,[70] as well as a full heritage tramway, including Slemdal station, which is under construction at Vinterbro.

[72] The Fjord City urban redevelopment project that is converting the Bjørvika and Vippetangen areas in the centre of Oslo, will include a gradual building of tramways through them.