Last update for this page: 07 January 2009.
National Railway System: Railway infrastructure is owned and maintained by Banverket and most train services are operated by SJ AB. Most SJ activities are being devolved into three subsidiaries:
Various residuary activities remain with Statens Järnvägar.
The other major passenger operators are Arlanda Express, Arriva, DSB First, Merresor, Stockholmståg, Svenska Tågkompaniet (TKAB) and Veolia Transport. Banverket and SJ AB are government-owned, the others private. Merresor is jointly owned by SJ and PTG. Stockholmståg and SJ Norrlandståg are subsidiaries of SJ AB. Green Cargo and Railion now jointly own Railion Scandiavia (based in Denmark) Norwegian NSB is the owner of TKAB. More information under Other Railways below. Many local passenger services are operated on behalf of regional transport authorities. In most cases the operator is SJ, for exceptions see below. Banverket owns former SJ lines, plus those of Trafikaktiebolaget Grängesberg Oxelösunds Järnvägar (TGOJ). TGOJ Trafik AB is now a subsidiary of GC. It owns some locomotives used on freight services. Certain SJ passenger services are branded under other names, such as "Kust till Kust", and "TiM" (Trafik i Mälardalen). “TiB” (Tåg i Bergslagen) is now operated by TKAB.
DSB run through trains to Ystad, to connect with passenger ferry services to Bornholm.
Through services Stockholm – Oslo are operated by SJ, Oslo – Göteborg are operated by NSB in cooperation with TKAB.
The following are regional transport authorities responsible for the provision of local train services. They contract with SJ or another train operator to run the trains for them. Services crossing regional transport authority boundaries are usually jointly-sponsored. A few are joint operations with SJ long-distance services. In several cases a separate brand name, shown in brackets, is used to promote some or all services.
The following unprofitable services have been contracted out by Rikstrafiken (a government body) to operators other than SJ:
Official Website: www.sj.se
Language: Swedish. The Sami, who live in the extreme north, have their own language, which is related to Finnish.
Currency: Swedish Kronor
UIC code: numeric 74; alpha S
Timetable: The national timetable, labelled RESPLUS, has been reduced to only consist of rail services, and is free of charge. Apart from an explanation of abbreviations, the timetable is entirely in Swedish – but it is probably the most clearly-presented timetable for any European railway. Rail timetables include details of engineering work involving diversions or bus substitution, but information is not comprehensive. The Scandinavian summer timetable period is of much shorter duration than elsewhere in Europe, running from mid-June to mid-August.
PDF-downloadable timetables (linjetidtabeller) and the facility to make timetable enquiries are available, also in English, at www.resplus.se. It is recommended that travellers do not rely on the printed timetable, but download all relevant new timetables from this site.
Gauge: Standard. SJ used to operate several 891mm gauge lines, but these have all been closed or converted to standard gauge. There are tourist operations on a few ex-SJ narrow-gauge lines, but the only 891mm gauge line still with regular passenger services is the SL Roslagsbanan (with operator Roslagståg, owned by TKAB and Danish DSB).
Electrification: 15kV 16.7 Hz. The Öresund bridge is 25 kV 50Hz (DSB system). The SL Roslagsbanan is 1500V dc and the SL Saltsjöbanan is 900V dc.
Rule of the road: Left, but most lines in Sweden are single track. All lines with two or four tracks have CTC and full bi-directional signalling. The Öresund trains Malmö – København use the Danish right hand rule from Malmö C.
Other railways: Apart from tourist lines and industrial concerns, the only significant private railway is the Inlandsbanan from Mora to Brunflo and Östersund to Gällivare.
Malmtrafik AB (and Norwegian company Malmtrafik AS) was jointly-owned by SJ, NSB and the mining company LKAB, but is now a fully owned subsidiary of LKAB. They operate iron ore trains over Banverket (in Sweden) and Jenbanestyrelsen (in Norway) lines from Gällivare, Kiruna and Svappavaara to Narvik and Luleå.Among other companies operating freight (and, in some cases, passenger) trains over Banverket lines are: Cargo Net, Hector Rail, Inlandsgods, Ofotbanen AS, Peterson Rail, Stena Gotthard, STT (Svensk Tåg Teknik), Tågfrakt AB, TX Logistik, Tågåkeriet i Bergslagen and Vida Timber . Some operations are on behalf of Green Cargo and others at the private companies' own risk or for their own needs.Tourist lines: Due to weather and daylight hours, most tourist lines have a very short operating season, typically from mid-June to mid-August:
The Resplus public timetable no longer contains information about most museum and tourist railways, but a free guide to preserved railways in Sweden, "Tågsommar", is published each spring by JärnvägsInfo-Förlaget, Box 1134, S-171 22 Solna. Telephone +46 8 82 27 35, e-mail jinf@rocketmail.com, web site www.sjk.se. Click on “Tågsommar” where you can find the websites for most lines above, some also with English text.
There is a listing of Nordic narrow gauge tourist lines at the Scandinavian Railways Society website.
Metro: Stockholm. In addition to the Tunnelbanan, Storstockholms Lokaltrafik operates two local lines, the Roslagsbanan (891mm gauge), and the Saltsjöbanan (both operated by Veolia).
Trams: Göteborg, Malmö (Malmö Stads Spårvägar Museiförening, summer weekend museum trams only www.ss.se), Norrköping, Stockholm: Nockebybanan: Alvik – Nockeby, Lidingöbanan: Ropsten-Gåshaga, Tvärbanan: Alvik – Liljeholmen – Gullmarsplan – Sickla udde (all operated by Veolia), Stockholms Museispårväg: (the tramway museum line in Stockholm): Norrmalmstorg – Valdemarsudde www.ss.se. Museispårvägen Malmköping is a tramway museum near Eskilstuna with a 2.6km operating line (also www.ss.se).
Recent and future changes:
Several cut offs, addition of a second track and new lines have opened in recent years to enable faster train services.
Kristianstad – Karlskrona re-opened after electrification on 17 June 2007. Vetlanda – Åseda and Berga –
Oskarshamn have lost their passenger service. The contract for night trains
Göteborg/Stockholm – Umeå/Luleå is transferred from Veolia to SJ Norrlandståg
and the contract for Linköping – Kalmar
and Linköping – Västervik is transferred from SJ to Veolia, all on 14 June
Work is in progress to double-track the remaining single-track sections of the West Coast line (Ängelholm – Göteborg) line, with the last section, the trouble-ridden Hallandsås tunnel planned for completion in 2015. Hallsberg – Mjölby (mainly for freight, construction of the final section Hallsberg - Degerön will at best start in late 2009) and Göteborg – Öxnered are also being rebuilt to dual track. The Bothnia line www.botniabanan.se (click on English in top right corner), upgrading of Sundsvall – Kramfors and a new line Kramfors – Örnsköldsvik – Husum – Umeå (190 km), including a new yard at Umeå, is being built, with Örnsköldsvik – Husum as the first section which is open to freight but without ERTMS signalling. The entire line (equipped with ERTMS) is expected to open in August 2010. The City Tunnel in Malmö www.citytunneln.se (in Swedish only) is expected to open in December 2010. The building of the tunnel from Stockholm Södra station to Tomteboda is the largest of all projects. It has just started and completion is at the moment planned for 2017 - see www.banverket.se/sv/Amnen/Aktuella-projekt/Projekt/1867/Citybanan-i-Stockholm.aspx.
Special Notes: Sweden pioneered the split in railway management between infrastructure ownership and train operation. Banverket is subsidised by the government so that it can provide train paths at a cost comparable with access to the road system (for which there is an equivalent road authority).
Seat reservations are compulsory on X2000 and overnight trains, and recommended on other long distance services. Tickets for long distance journeys are issued for specific trains, but will usually be accepted on others, subject to seats being available. Reservations are not indicated on seats so finding a seat that will not be claimed en route is something of a lottery – better to obtain a seat reservation at an open booking office. If someone else has the reservation to the seat you are using, they might request you to move. Special fares apply to X2000 high speed trains and a meal is provided to passengers holding premium fare tickets. A few non-X2000 services are for practical reasons operated using X2000 rolling stock, but with standard fares.
On some lines, particularly around Malmö and Helsingborg, tickets for local and main line trains are not inter-available, but there are exceptions in respect of particular trains and destinations.
SJ passenger carriages are larger than UIC standard vehicles and, apart from workings into Norway, carry passengers outside Sweden only to and from Berlin (the Berlin Night Express, via the Trelleborg – Sassnitz train ferry). Passenger-carrying access to København was only available by train ferry as there are no Swedish carriages – apart from the joint Öresund fleet – which are allowed to have passengers on board when using the Öresund bridge/ tunnel. Rebuilt SJ X2000-sets operate Stockholm – København.
It is possible to purchase a complete set of timetable graphs, showing passenger and freight trains on all BV lines, from Banverket HK, Kopieringscentralen +46 243 44 50 00 (PBX). The price is now SEK 450 (>GBP 33) incl. VAT for one year, including P&P, at least for buyers within Sweden. A CD version is now said to be available at around 350 SEK, but all is available for download without cost, see next section.
Banverket has reorganised its website. The key page is now: banportalen.banverket.se/banportalen/templates/bvSubPage.aspx?id=712&subject=351&epslanguage=SV. This dictionary may be useful: lexin.nada.kth.se/swe-eng.html. Click on the timetable you are interested in to the left (Fastställd means set, förslag means suggested), and a new page will open. When the timetable has been set, it will likely contain:
From January 2009, banverket provides a ‘daily graphical timetable’ See banportalen.banverket.se/Banportalen/templates/bvSubPage_filelist.aspx?id=1674&epslanguage=SV. Translation: Download daily graphs. 1. Open first the document (see link) and locate the railway line you are looking for. Remember the numeric code for this line. 2. Open the folder ‘Dagliga grafer’ (Daily graphs) . 3. Open the folder with the relevant date. 4. The (PDF) timetable you are looking for can be found using the numeric code from step 1. This timetable can be very useful to find out which trains really are supposed to run a particular day.
On many local lines trains call at stations by request. Bus-style push buttons are provided in many diesel railcars, to request the train to stop. Passengers wishing to join a train at an unstaffed, request halt need to operate a hand-worked disc signal on the station platform.
Accented vowels come at the end of the Swedish alphabet, with Å, Ä and Ö following Z in that order. Accordingly, Öxnered comes last in the index of Swedish railway stations and Nässjö is further down the list than Nynäshamn.
There is a bulletin board, Postvagnen, for questions also in English, at www.sjk.se. Most native Swedes speak at least some English.
Banverket has an online service where you can see if the train you are interested in is on time. Start with www.banverket.se: click Trafikinfo (top left corner). It is in Swedish only, but should be easy to understand anyway. Select a station and click OK. You’ll see trains within an hour. Beräknas means expected at. All passenger trains except SL commuter trains and Arlanda Express are included. Information on what track is to be used in the station and the possibility to search a particular train (using train number) have been added during spring 2006.
The graphic real time service provided by Skånetrafiken (the most southern County transport company) remains at www.skanetrafiken.skane.se. Click on the text ‘Är tåget I tid?’ (bottom right corner). A new window will open. Click on the text ‘Klicka här för att se aktuell tågstatus’ (in the centre). Another window will open. Trains included in the Skånetrafiken timetable can be seen here (not X2000, some other long distance – and freight). When you can see the main window 'Aktuell tågstatus Skåne kl hh.mm' you can click on most stations and halts, and a local timetable will appear. When clicking on major locations another (more detailed) live map will also appear.
In Stockholm, the displays shown at the commuter train (Pendeltåg) stations can be seen at www.sl.se/realtidsinformation. Click on Pendeltågstider, and select the station you want to see and click Sök (search). These pages are only available in Swedish.
Maps: Banverket published a "Järnvägskarta" showing all Swedish railways. This is small scale (1:1700000) with no enlargements of complex areas.
Maps are available from the Banverket website: banportalen.banverket.se/banportalen/templates/bvSubPage.aspx?id=715&epslanguage=SV&subject=351. Click on the name of the area you are interested in. There is comprehensive technical information available in English in the “Network statement”, see banportalen.banverket.se/banportalen/templates/bvSubPage.aspx?id=1512&epslanguage=SV.
Last complete update 6 June 1999; updated "Recent and future changes" (1 August 1999), minor updates (19 September 1999 & 6 October 1999); Arlanda Airport details altered (3 January 2000); narrow gauge tourist lines link added (10 January 2000); "timetable maps" added (11 January 2000); minor update (3 May 2000); general update (5 November 2000 and 21 March 2001); trolleybus details amended (3 February 2002); general updates (26 June 2002, 1 December 2002, 23 December 2002, 16 June 2003, 16 August 2003, 2 January 2004, 15 June 2004, 4 January 2005, 6 February 2005, 1 June 2005, 10 June 2005); general update (16 June 2006 & 23 February 2007); general update (15 June 2007); general update (14 June 2008); Tourist Lines amended (22 June 2008); general update (13 December 2008); "Official Website" added, "UIC Code" amended (14 December 2008); "National Railway System", "Other Railways", "Tourist Lines", "Special Notes" and "Maps" amended (7 January 2009) .
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