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 Ressursutvikling 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.