 In March 1997 , NSB announced that they had plans to privatize the operations of the line from 1998 . The responsibility for setting the schedule , selling tickets and marketing was transferred to Flåm Utvikling , a newly established company that NSB owned 49 percent of , and Aurland <unk> 51 percent . The latter was owned by Aurland Municipality , the Industrial Development Corporation of Norway and Aurland Sparebank , a local bank . Flåm Utvikling also took over responsibility for other tourism @-@ related activities in Flåm , such as port facilities . NSB would still operate the trains , and Flåm Utvikling would pay NSB the cost of running the trains , but keep the profits from the ticket sales . The Norwegian National Rail Administration , which had been established in 1996 and had taken over the responsibility for infrastructure , retained ownership of the line itself . Flåm Utvikling also started building a cruise ship terminal at Flåm , so tourists could walk ashore and directly to the trains . 
