In 1852 an architectural competition was held, and a plan based on Crown Street Station in Liverpool won.

The station was located east of the river Akerselva, but could not serve as a permanent solution, as it was close to neither the city centre nor the port.

In 1859 the freight section of the station was expanded with the purchase of land between Loelva and the port, and part of Bjørvika.

The two stations were located about 2 km (1.2 mi) apart and were not connected by rail until 1907 when the Oslo Port Line was built.

The engineers within NSB (now Vy) wanted to locate this new station west of the river Akerselva, between Jernbanetorget and Bjørvika.

But a conflict arose between Carl Abraham Pihl, who was director of NSB at the time, and the City of Oslo.

The population of Oslo doubled to 150,000 between 1875 and 1890 and from the opening of the station to 1890, the traffic increased from 400,000 passengers annually to more than a million.

The committee split in its final decision, but both factions agreed that a new railway had to be built between the two stations, and proposed a line past the city hall in a tunnel under Akershus Fortress.

This was the first project to propose a tunnel under the entire city that would branch off from the Drammen Line before Oslo West.

The plan also included a twelve-story building for NSB's administration at the station, which at the time was spread around at 14 different locations in the city.

This committee announced an architecture contest for a new central station, and the Green Light plan by John Engh won.

The planning office started construction based on the 1938 committee's work, and expanded the Alnabru Railway Yard in parallel with the new station.

NSB wanted a straight line for quick transport, but complex geological conditions in Oslo, including large areas of clay, prevented this.

The plans originally included a station at Oslo City Hall, but a more northerly line was chosen that would be 1,802 metres (5,912 ft) long.

It also felt that the tunnel should be expanded westward and terminate somewhere between Skarpsno and Skøyen and at the same time close the Oslo Port Line.

The new central station was to have the same basic plans as the suggestion that won the contest in 1946, though slightly modified, among other things keeping the old Oslo Ø building.