On 1 December 1996, the largest structural change in Norwegian railway history in the 20th century occurred.

As part of the political compromise to build the new airport, NSB faced a dual mandate.

On one hand, the imperative was to establish environmentally sustainable ground infrastructure, prompting the decision to construct a high-speed railway spanning 56-kilometre (35 mi) from Oslo Central Station to the airport, resulting in a 19-minute travel time.

Concurrently, political stipulations dictated that the airport's development should not burden taxpayers financially; thus, the entire project was slated for financing through loans.

The service is operated using 16 custom built Class 71 electric multiple units, with a capacity for 168 passengers and maximum speed of 210 km/h (130 mph).

For the diesel lines, NSB attempted to buy 12 Di 6 from Siemens, but had to return them after they failed to operate sufficiently in the northern Norwegian cold.

At the same time, NSB ordered new electric multiple units, first of all for the new Airport Express Train service, Class 71.

This was an attempt to create a high speed railway service using existing rail track, though the operating times between Oslo and the termini were only reduced by about 10 minutes.

NSB had been through a process of making the company more of a corporation, with the IT section made the subsidiary Arrive and the maintenance transformed to Mantena.

On 24 April 2019, NSB was renamed Vygruppen and rebranded as Vy (it is a Scandinavian word meaning vision, outlook, overview or prospect).

The Norwegian Minister of Transportation and Communications, Liv Signe Navarsete (Centre Party), has announced that the present government (as of 2006) will discontinue the previous government's announcements to put more rail line operations on public tender.

During the 1990s, NSB modernized their rolling stock, expanding their fleet of multiple units and retiring many of the traditional locomotive-hauled trains.

Most of the locomotives were sold to the freight company CargoNet AS, but the models El18 and Di4 remain to haul passenger trains.

Some of the new trains were plagued with troubles, in particular a brand new Class 73 derailed at low speed at Nelaug in 2000 because of an axle breaking due to metal fatigue.

The delivery is scheduled for 2012 but delayed because of accident during testing, by that time much of the rail network is expected to be upgraded to double track, enabling an increase in frequency.