Last update for this page: 22 June 2010.
National Railway System: Railway infrastructure is owned and maintained by Trafikverket and most long distance train services are operated by SJ AB. SJ AB has adopted a policy of not bidding for all regionally financed services, so its share of the total traffic is reduced. Most SJ activities are being devolved into three subsidiaries:
Various residuary activities remain with Affärsverket Statens Järnvägar.
The other major passenger operators are Arlanda Express, Arriva, DSB First, Merresor, Stockholmståg, Svenska Tågkompaniet (TKAB) and Veolia Transport. Trafikverket and SJ AB are government-owned; the others have private or foreign owners. Merresor is jointly owned by SJ and PTG. But the owner of PTG is now Veolia, and this means that Merresor will cease to operate when existing contracts have expired. 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. Norwegian Cargo Net is partly owned by GC and has operations in Sweden. More information under Other Railways below. Many local passenger services are operated on behalf of regional transport authorities. In many cases the operator is still SJ: for exceptions see below. Trafikverket 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. On its long distance weekend service Veolia uses locomotives from Hector Rail or occasionally InfraNord (ex. Banverket Produktion).
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
| Journey Planner: | www.resrobot.se. Select the British flag. www.sj.se can also be used but has less detail – e.g no ability to select streets, only locations where you can purchase a ticket. Select ‘English’ (top right hand corner). |
| Downloadable Timetable: | SJ and other operators Timetables: www.resplus.se and select 'Tidtabeller'. It is recommended that travellers do not rely on the printed timetable, but download all relevant new timetables from this site. When the public timetable for the spring is publicly available, the advance (preliminary) edition for the summer and autumn may be available at www.resplus.se/Global/tidtabeller/Forhandsutgava.pdf |
| Printed Timetable: | The national timetable, labelled RESPLUS, has been reduced to consist only 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. |
| Engineering Information: | www.trafikverket.se/Privat/Resan-och-trafiken/Din-resa/Laget-pa-vagarna-och-i-tagtrafiken/Laget-i-tagtrafiken/ Here all disruptions are listed, but in Swedish only. Look for the word Banarbete (Infrastructure work). Unfortunately this page does not have consistently good quality information. When you have selected a station or a train, if there are any ‘!’ in a yellow triangle to be seen, hold the cursor over the triangle; engineering or other problem information will then appear. There is also information on www.sj.se in English, but only for lines where SJ is the operator. Select ‘English’ (top right hand corner). Select ‘Travel info’. Select ‘Read more’ (under Current traffic information). Rail timetables normally include details of large engineering works which are planned in advance. For anyone with a particular interest in Engineering information, See the links under "Special Notes" below. |
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 Trafikverket (in Sweden) and Jernbaneverket (in Norway) lines from Gällivare, Kiruna and Svappavaara to Narvik and Luleå. Among other companies operating freight (and, in some cases, passenger) trains over Trafikverket lines are: Cargo Net, Hector Rail, Inlandsgods, Peterson Rail, Stena Gotthard,), 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.teknikarv.se/tsyyyy/, where yyyy is the year; for instance http://www.teknikarv.se/ts2010/ for 2010. This now includes an appendix giving both the GPS coordinates and latitude and longitude of each line. Click on the appropriate link to download a PDF-file. Links to all tourist lines and many other small museums, societies etc. are available here.
There is a listing of Nordic narrow gauge tourist lines on 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 (Tunnelbanan is operated by MTR from 2 Nov 2009, Saltsjöbanan still 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. However the museum operation is suspended or reduced because of the extension of the line and the operation of normal SL traffic (Sergels Torg – Waldemarsudde by the PLC owned by the tramway society for the time being). 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. However the Berga – Oskarshamn traffic may resume in December 2011, with Nässjö – Hultsfred trains once again extended to Oskarshamn. 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 was transferred from SJ to Veolia, all on 14 June 2008. The contract to run Öresundståg EMU trains to and from Denmark was transferred from SJ to DSBFirst on 11 January 2009.This includes trains from Malmö to Helsingborg – Göteborg, Karlskrona, and Alvesta/Växjö. SJ will continue to operate these trains Alvesta – Kalmar, with the exception of those terminating/originating in Växjö.
Kinnekullebanan (Örebro – Hallsberg–) Gårdsjö – Lidköping – Håkantorp (- Herrljunga – Göteborg) was transferred from Veolia to Arriva on 14 June 2009.
The Stockholm Tunnelbanan (Metro/Underground) was transferred from Veolia to MTR on 2 November 2009 on an 8-year contract. Värmlandstrafik was transferred to Tågkompaniet 13 December 2009.
All lines within the Västtrafik umbrella (except Kinekullebanan) will be transferred from SJ to DSB First Väst AB and the Krösatågen system will be transferred to DSB Småland AB on 12 December 2010, which also means the end of Merresor. DSB Småland AB is a subsidiary of DSB Sverige AB, which, of course is a subsidiary of DSB in Denmark.
DB (DB Regio Sverige AB) has won its first contract in Sweden and will take over from SJ on the Östgötatrafiken Norrköping – Tranås line on the same date. The DB purchase of Arriva will also, of course, have as yet unknown effects on the scene in Sweden.
Work is in progress to double several single track sections:
The Bothnia line www.botniabanan.se (click on English in top right corner), upgrading of Sundsvall – Kramfors and a new line Kramfors (Västeraspby) – 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. The Örnsköldsvik - Umeå section (equipped with ERTMS) will open to public passenger traffic on 29 August 2010. The southern part (upgrading of Sundsvall – Kramfors (Västeraspby) is delayed, with completion planned for 2011. From 29/30 August SJ Norrlandståg will route one train pair via Umeå Ö – Örnsköldsvik. This means that Mellansel – Örnsköldsvik will reopen for passengers, but is expected to close again in December 2011. From December 2010 two night train pairs are expected to be routed this way, but no daytime trains. (Umeå – ) Hällnäs – Lycksele (65 km) which lost its passenger service in 1995, will get it back in August 2011. Umeå C station is closed for rebuilding from 30 July 2010 to 30 May 2011. All trains will pass through without stopping; Umeå Ö will be used instead.
The City Tunnel in Malmö www.citytunneln.com/en/Home/First-Page/ is planned to open on 12 December 2010. Between August 2009 and 11 December 2010 major rebuilding of Malmö C takes place it two steps. The number of available tracks is reduced by half. Most loco-hauled trains – both SJ and Veolia are using Malmö Syd Svågertorp instead of Malmö C, and the Malmö avoiding line (see SE10/12). The Malmö C – Berlin trains are instead routed Lund – Malmö Persborg – Berlin and v v and also use the avoiding line.
The Boden – Haparanda line is being rebuilt. Boden – Kalix – Karlsborgsbruk (119 km) will be electrified and upgraded. Kalix – Haparanda is a completely new 42 km electric railway. When this is completed in 2012, the existing Morjärv – Karungi – Haparanda line will be closed and lifted. As far as is known, there are no plans for any passenger services. See http://www.trafikverket.se/Privat/Projekt/Norrbotten/Haparandabanan/.
The construction of the Kiruna bypass has started. See http://www.trafikverket.se/Privat/Projekt/Norrbotten/Kirunaprojektet/. The city including the railway is partly stopping the ore mining. A new line south of the mine is planned, with a terminal passenger station accessible from the west and a Kiruna avoiding line for freight. Completion is planned for 2012, but the timeframe depends on the mining. The construction of a new 2,8 km freight branch to the Aitik mine south of Gällivare is in progress, with completion during 2010 http://www.trafikverket.se/Privat/Projekt/Norrbotten/Ny-sparanslutning-till-Aitik-/.
The electrification of Kristinehamn – Nykroppa has started in summer 2009, with a planned completion in December 2012. http://www.trafikverket.se/Privat/Projekt/Varmland/Kristinehamn--Nykroppa-Elektrifiering/.
Double tracking of the 2 km Södertälje Hamn (Harbour) – Södertälje Centrum bottleneck, including a new flyover at Södertälje hamn, is in its final planning stage. This is done to improve timekeeping on the Södertälje Centrum – Märsta SL commuter train line. The new SL EMU depot at Södertälje Hamn opened 9 December 2009. However until the double tracking is complete, access to the depot is limited and it cannot operate at full capacity. See www.trafikverket.se/Privat/Projekt/Stockholm/Sodertalje-C-Sodertalje-hamn--/.
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 http://www.trafikverket.se/Privat/Projekt/Stockholm/Citybanan/. It also includes a new flyover along the entire Älvsjö yard.
The tramway in Norrköping is extended 4 km to the south, and is planned to open to Ljura 15 August 2010 and to Navestad November/December 2011.
In Stockholm, the Tvärbanan tramway is extended from Alvik to Solna station via Sundbyberg station, including a new depot in Ulvsunda. Construction has started and is planned for completion summer 2013. Work has also started to extend what until now has been a museum tramway between Norrmalmstorg and Djurgården (Waldemarsudde). The first step is Norrmalmstorg – Sergels Torg, where construction is almost complete and traffic is planned to start on 23 August 2010. It will later be extended to the Lindhagen area via the Central station and Fridhemsplan. However there is a risk to future plans if the general election in September 2010 brings about a change of governing party. There is also a plan to build a tramway from Strandvägen via the Frihamnen area to Ropsten, where a connection with the Ropsten – Gåshaga tramway is planned. An agreement has logically also been made between the county council and the city of Lidingö that Ropsten – Gåshaga will continue to operate, with new trams and a new depot at Aga.
On 13 December 2009 TÅGAB (in co-operation with SJ) started to operate passenger trains Karlstad/Kristinehamn – Laxå – Skövde/ Göteborg C. This means that the north to west curve in Laxå has been taken into use for passenger services. It has had limited or no passenger service since 1962.
The final stages of the construction work for double-tracking of Åkers Runö to Åkersberga (1 km, Roslagsbanan, 891 mm gauge) started in January 2010, and completion is planned for August 2010.
A new 1524 mm gauge line is planned jointly by a Canadian mining company and the Swedish railways to link new iron ore mines at Kaunisvaara in Sweden (about 20 km WNW of Kolari) with the VR line to Kolari. The aim is to have the new line ready by 2013.
On 1 April 2010 the Swedish National Rail Administration, Banverket (BV) and its counterpart for roads Vägverket (VV) were united to form the Swedish National Transport Administration (TRV - not TV as has been stated elsewhere). Banverket Produktion has been made a separate company named InfraNord.
The contract for operation of all local passenger services north and west of Sundsvall has been awarded Norrtåg, a new company owned jointly by DB Regio (60%) and SJ. This includes the Bothnia line which will be opened in stages from August 2010.
The Emmaboda – Karlskrona line will be closed for upgrading from December 2011 to June 2013. See http://www.trafikverket.se/Privat/Projekt/Blekinge/Emmaboda-Karlskrona/.
Special Notes: Sweden pioneered the split in railway management between infrastructure ownership and train operation. Trafikverket is subsidised by the government so that it can provide train paths at a cost comparable with access to the road system.
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. All fares are influenced by demand and may vary considerably. Sometimes first class can even be cheaper than second class. A few non-X2000 services are for practical reasons operated using X2000 rolling stock.
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.
Swedish 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.
Since all graphical timetables are available to be downloaded from the Trafikverket website (see immediately below), information on how to purchase is removed.
The creation of Trafikverket (TRV) will eventually lead to new design and new links for all former Banverket pages. At time of writing some banportalen pages remain unchanged, but, depending on how you try to access these pages, you may be stopped at a login page. These links will be updated when the new links are known. See instead: http://www.trafikverket.se/Foretag/Trafikera-och-transportera/Jarnvag/Planera-trafik/Tagplan/. This dictionary may be useful. Select the text ‘Tågplan’ + the timetable (year) you are interested in to the left (Fastställd means set, förslag means suggested). When the timetable has been set (=current year), it will probably contain five tabs in the centre - Bilaga (attachment) 1 to 5:
At the time of writing, it is possible to see the plans for next year – as they are. This link may disappear, and should be seen as just a snapshot of the planning process. The plans are very likely to be modified a lot. Start again from www.trafikverket.se/Foretag/Trafikera-och-transportera/Jarnvag/Planera-trafik/Tagplan/. Select the ’next timetable year’ (when available). Select ‘Samrådsmöte’, and a new set of graphical timetables will appear.
Trafikverket provides a ‘daily graphical timetable’. Select the current timetable year and you will see the text ‘Dagliga grafer yyyy’ (where yyyy is the year). Select this and you will see a new page in a new window ‘Dagliga grafer yyyy’. Select ‘Ladda ned dagliga grafer’ (Download daily graphs) and follow these instructions:
The very detailed Linjebeskrivning (Line Description) is now available. There is one folder for all lines belonging to each signalling centre. This does not mean that all lines are remotely controlled.
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. It can also be accessed using www.postvagnen.com. You must, however, register to be able to post messages. Most native Swedes speak at least some English.
Trafikverket has an online service where you can see if the train you are interested in is on time. It is only in Swedish but should be easy to understand. Select either a station or the train number you are interested in and click OK. "Beräknas" means "expected at". All passenger trains on Trafikverket tracks except SL commuter trains and Arlanda Express are included. The graphic real time service provided by Skånetrafiken (the most southern County transport company) remains at www.skanetrafiken.skane.se. Click on the text ‘Trafikinfo’ (top centre). Click on ‘Är ditt tåg i tid?’ (top left corner). A new window will open. Click on the text ‘Klicka här för att se var ditt tåg befinner sig och om det är i tid’ (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.
In Stockholm, the displays shown at the commuter train, Underground (Metro), local railways/tramway and bus halts can be seen at http://realtid.sl.se/Default.aspx&epslanguage=EN.
The website www.tydal.nu contains graphic information on how a certain train number is routed including timings for all intermediate locations and some other useful information, however in Swedish only. Select 'Tåg' (=Trains), select 'Sök tågs tidtabell' (Find the timetable of a train), enter the train number and Select 'Sök' (=Search) . This site is not official, it is provided by Thomas Tydal, a driving instructor at SJ, who also has his own software company.
Maps: Maps are available from the Trafikverket website. Click on the name of the area you are interested in. There is comprehensive technical information available in English in the Network Statement.
Last complete update 22 June 2010. Subsequent changes: none.
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