Vestfold Privatbaner

Vestfold Privatbaner was a private railway company which operated two railways in Vestfold, Norway, the Holmestrand–Vittingfoss Line (HVB) and the Tønsberg–Eidsfoss Line (TEB). The company was created in 1934 as a merger between the two former operating companies of each of the two lines, but Vestfold Privatbaner closed operations already on 1 June 1938.

Prior to the merger, the Norwegian State Railways carried out a detailed survey of the business aspects of the two lines. In the evaluation of TEB, NSB was worried about the amount of traffic and stated that while traffic on other lines was rising, TEB was experiencing a decrease in traffic, which was characterized as "very poor", even by Norwegian standards. The importance of the line was also question, as it run parallel to the Vestfold Line and no station south of Hildestad was ever more than 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) from a station on the main line. NSB also argued that the line's utility was severely reduced because the line had never been extended to Vestfossen Station on the Sørlandet Line. NSB further criticized that trains running on the northern segment did not run the shorter distance to Holmestrand. NSB therefore rejected taking over the line and instead proposed running a bus service from Tønsberg to Auli twice per day.

NSB was more positive to the upper section, and proposed that the segment from Hoff to Eidsfoss remain, as most of the freight could be transferred to Holmestrand. This rearrangement would, according to the estimates, break even. However, local politicians were not interested in closing either of the lines. However, to rationalize operations, they merged the two railway companies to create Vestfold Privatbaner on 23 August 1934. It was given a board consisting of five members, one appointed by the Ministry of Labour, one each by the municipal councils of Tønsberg and Holmestrand and one additional member from each town, elected by the annual meeting. This was later changed to ten members, one from each of the ten municipalities which the line ran through.

As Vittingfoss Bruk was owned by Tønsberg Municipality, they had moved all transport from the pulp mill to Tønsberg, despite the longer ride and higher costs this incurred. Tønsberg Municipal Council therefore demanded that the head office of Vestfold Privatbaner be placed in Tønsberg. They also rejected any proposals to close the Tønsberg–Hillestad segment. Aldermen in Holmestrand disagreed and demanded that the head office be located in Holmestrand and thus Holmestrand Municipality decided not to buy shares in the new railway company. This resulted in the capital being limited to NOK 50,000, but secured Tønsberg Municipality control over the company. They therefore started planning to close the segment from Hillestad to Holmestrand. This was met with resistance in Holmestrand, as an estimated 44 people would lose their jobs and Viking Melk would possibly have to close down.

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