feared this was the first step into converting NSB to a limited company. By February the negotiations were in a deadlock, and SJ and NSB stated that they were issuing an invitation to tender for a new class of locomotives. In March, LKAB again applied for permit to operate their own trains in Norway and stated that they would only join a joint venture if they were the majority owner. On 8 June, LKAB established a Swedish and a Norwegian subsidiary dedicated to rail transport. This would bypass the rationale provided by the Ministry of Transport in denying them traffic rights, and LKAB stated that there was no way the Norwegian authorities now could deny them such rights, given EU Directive 91/440. On 27 June 1995, LKAB, SJ and NSB reached an agreement where the three would establish a joint venture owned 51% by LKAB and 24.5% each by NSB and SJ. At the time there were 350 employees in the three companies involved in the transport, and the new company would recruit its employees among these, although it would need significantly fewer employees. The plans called for the new companies taking over operations from 1 January 1996. The organization was protested by local labor unions in Narvik. In December, Kjell Opseth created a committee under the ministry, led by State Secretary Torstein Rudihagen of the Labour Party, which would look at the reorganization, thus postponing the date of the start of operations. In late January, the committee concluded that LKAB met the criteria to receive traffic rights. The report also showed that 55 jobs would be lost in Narvik and that the Norwegian Railway Inspectorate had concerns regarding the safety of LKAB's operations. In May 1996, Opseth stated that the Norwegian Government would give the necessary rights to the joint venture. At the same time, the state would give Narvik Municipality economic support and lots for commercial development. With Malmtrafik's take-over, 50 employees, equally distributed between the two countries, became redundant. On 28 June, the transfer of operations was finalized when the Labour Party, the Conservative Party and the Progress Party voted in the Parliament of Norway, with 67 against 45 votes, to grant Malmtrafik the necessary rights. The Centre Party, the Christian Democratic Party, the Socialist Left Party, the Liberal Party and the Red Electoral Alliance voted against. NSB's workshop and depot were to be transferred to a