A couple of Sweden questions

[Dougal2345]

Had a nice holiday in Sweden recently, all train, but have come back with a couple of questions.

The X-2000s are beautiful trains of course, but getting a little old now - 35 years. Are they still considered the best trains in Sweden? SJ seem to have a lot of newer streamlined EMUs, but are they all used for more mundane services - or can they match the X-2000s for comfort, speed and tilting?

I took the ferry to Gotland, which involved an overnight stay in Kalmar so I could get the ferry-link coach to Oskarshamn in the morning. (This was a big, modern coach with myself and one other passenger).

And yet, right next to the ferry terminal is Oskarshamn railway station, which has no regular services but looks in good condition with the track maintained. I was wondering why it was disused, when it has the ferry next door (there were maybe 100 foot passengers waiting for the sailing I was on), and Oskarshamn itself is apparently a fairly large town in Swedish terms.

Whenever it was that rail services were withdrawn, were there reasons given, or local protests?

 

[mountainpixel]

The X2000 is still the flagship, and will be in service for the forseable future.

They are currently being refurbished by Stadler. Sadly the program has run into a few problems and is taking much longer than planed. All while the old ones get very unreliable. We will have to wait and see what happens.

The tilting speed advantage is less important nowedays. The newer EMUs with better acceleration are often just as fast (on most routes). Soon new 250 km/h long distance trains are delivered which will probably dethrone the X2000 despite having no tilting function.

As for Oskarshamn (afaik) service was withdrawn in 2019. But it barly ran before with frequent bus replacements due to a lack of rolling stock. Local governments in Sweden often see more benefit in a frequent bus service than an infrequent rail service for the same price. These bus services also stop at multiple places along the way that don't have any rail service or are not near a station and would have to be served anyway.

You will see many larger Swedish towns without rail service despite having a connection. There are even ones with active passenger airports and frequent fights but no train stopping there.

 

[Gloster]

Berga-Oskarshamn had previously been closed 2005-2011.

The problem is that for many years the line was a straightforward standard-gauge one Nässjö-Hultsfred-Berga-Oskarshamn, while the Berga-Kalmar line was 891 mm. gauge. In 1996 the Berga-Kalmar section was reopened, having been earlier converted to standard, and trains ran through from Linköping (and Stockholm) to Kalmar, while most trains from Nässjö were cut back to Hultsfred. This left Berga-Oskarshamn as an isolated stub, which was further isolated when the Nässjö-Hultsfred services were cut back to Eksjö.

 

[kaspertron]

I've always found it strange that there are no trains to Oskarshamn. The ferry service to Gotland runs on a huge government subsidy , it's peculiar that all the money goes to the ferry itself rather than some going to making it easier to get to the ferry terminal.

There's also no through ticketing for journeys to Gotland, if your bus or train is late you're in trouble.

Trelleborg lacked a railway service for decades despite having a train station right next to the ferry service, but this was rectified a few years ago by the regional government in Skåne, who have recently been quite proactive in reopening lines long closed to passenger traffic. I don't know why the attitude is so different in Kalmar region.

Värtaterminalen in Stockholm, with ferries to Finland and Estonia, is another ferry terminal with a derelict train station next door.

 

[Gloster]

I've always found it strange that there are no trains to Oskarshamn. The ferry service to Gotland runs on a huge government subsidy , it's peculiar that all the money goes to the ferry itself rather than some going to making it easier to get to the ferry terminal.

There's also no through ticketing for journeys to Gotland, if your bus or train is late you're in trouble.

Trelleborg lacked a railway service for decades despite having a train station right next to the ferry service, but this was rectified a few years ago by the regional government in Skåne, who have recently been quite proactive in reopening lines long closed to passenger traffic. I don't know why the attitude is so different in Kalmar region.

Värtaterminalen in Stockholm, with ferries to Finland and Estonia, is another ferry terminal with a derelict train station next door.

I don’t think that Trelleborg ever closed, but in the 1970s (1977?) the last local trains to and from Malmö were withdrawn and it was only served by international trains to and from the train-ferry. Local services returned in 2015 and have the advantage of the Citytunneln in Malmö.

Värtans station lost its passenger trains back in 1913. Even with increased traffic it wouldn’t be worth reintroducing passenger trains as it would be a long and slow journey round the north of the city for the few passengers coming by rail.

 

[kaspertron]

I don’t think that Trelleborg ever closed, but in the 1970s (1977?) the last local trains to and from Malmö were withdrawn and it was only served by international trains to and from the train-ferry. Local services returned in 2015 and have the advantage of the Citytunneln in Malmö.

Värtans station lost its passenger trains back in 1913. Even with increased traffic it wouldn’t be worth reintroducing passenger trains as it would be a long and slow journey round the north of the city for the few passengers coming by rail.

Trelleborg Station was definitely closed until 2015, they ripped out the train tracks and used the train shed as a car park. The trains from Malmö to Berlin took the ferry from Trelleborg but there I don't think there was any possibility to board the train there.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Värtans station lost its passenger trains back in 1913. Even with increased traffic it wouldn’t be worth reintroducing passenger trains as it would be a long and slow journey round the north of the city for the few passengers coming by rail.

There is a nearby T-bana station at Gärdet, although it is not totally ideal.

 

[jamesontheroad]

The Swedish mentality to passenger trains is different from other countries. Remember that Sweden initiated the process of privatising the state-owned SJ before Great Britain.

The immediate effect was that loss-making services and lines were shed by SJ. But the longer term consequence was that counties (and even regional consortia of counties) began to play a greater role in determining what shape and frequency their local and regional train services should have. Decisions about cutting services remain quite unemotional and rational, based on costs and alternatives.

Today, the Swedish rail system is quite dynamic. There are a host of what we (in GB) would call “open access” commercial players in both freight and passenger services. SJ AB (ie SJ Ltd, the state-owned but for-profit commercial successor to SJ) is still dominant, but only where they can see a profit from commercial services or procured work.

In the instance of the railway link to Oskarshamn, the ferry connection crosses a county line and neither county has ever shown much resolve to collaborate. Without a train system on Gotland, the focus is on people bringing their own vehicles. There isn’t enough local traffic within Kalmar or Småland to justify train service to Oskarshamn either. Without a regional authority procuring it, SJ AB and their commercial competitors (Snälltåget, VR) are also focusing on the core intercity routes.

Finally, is the X2000 still considered the best train in Sweden? Probably, yes, because there is a lot of national pride in it as a Swedish product. It was tested internationally but never became an export success. It’s quirky but what I’ve seen of the ongoing renovation makes me think it will actually continue to be preferred by passengers versus the newer X55 and the forthcoming “Delta” high speed train.

We in Umeå get 2 - 4 round trips to Stockholm with the X55 every day. We expect the new Delta to replace those in a couple of years but there was also a brief moment when the renovated X2000 was being proposed as appropriate for speeding up journey times on the twisty coastal route.

 

[JonasB]

The X-2000s are beautiful trains of course, but getting a little old now - 35 years. Are they still considered the best trains in Sweden? SJ seem to have a lot of newer streamlined EMUs, but are they all used for more mundane services - or can they match the X-2000s for comfort, speed and tilting?

Yes, they very much are SJ's flagship service. While they are SJ's oldest EMUs in service, they are as good as new after having been upgraded. 200 km/h is the normal top speed for long distance trains in Sweden, but X2000 is still the only tilting train which gives it an advantage on curvy routes. They are still the only trains in "speed category S", that allows them to exceed the base speed limit in curves by up to 30 %. But I guess the "Delta" trains will take over that role once they are in service.

And yet, right next to the ferry terminal is Oskarshamn railway station, which has no regular services but looks in good condition with the track maintained. I was wondering why it was disused, when it has the ferry next door (there were maybe 100 foot passengers waiting for the sailing I was on), and Oskarshamn itself is apparently a fairly large town in Swedish terms.

Whenever it was that rail services were withdrawn, were there reasons given, or local protests?

I've taken the train to Oskarshamn a couple of times in order to catch the ferry to Gotland. The problem with the service was that there was no schedule coordination between the trains and the ferries, so it often involved a few hours waiting in Oskarshamn. Not a terrible idea, it's a nice town. But not attractive for those wanting to get to their destination. The traffic was restarted in 2011 with trains Nässjö-Eksjö-Hultsfred-Berga-Oskarshamn, and ran until 2019 when the line was shortened to just Nässjö-Eksjö. One of the problems was that Itino DMUs used are not known for their reliability, and there are not that many spare DMUs available. Geography didn't help either as the biggest demand for travel in Oskarshamn probably is to/from Kalmar, and it's hard for the trains to compete with the buses on that route. Nässjö-Eksjö will be electrified soon and the DMUs replaced by EMUs. You can read more about it here: https://www.jarnvag.net/banguide/berga-oskarshamn (In Swedish, use translation service of your choice.) But there has been attempts to revive the traffic, e.g. here in a motion to the parliament by three green MPs: https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokumen...otion/stangadalsbanan-och-tjustbanan_hb02675/ (Again, in Swedish.) And there are new trains on order that will soon be in service, so passenger trains might return to Oskarshamn in the future. There are still freight trains on the line.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 9 Aug 2025 ==

Trelleborg lacked a railway service for decades despite having a train station right next to the ferry service, but this was rectified a few years ago by the regional government in Skåne, who have recently been quite proactive in reopening lines long closed to passenger traffic. I don't know why the attitude is so different in Kalmar region.

One big difference is that the line to Trelleborg was in a much better condition, being electrified and allowing pretty decent speed. The branch lines in Småland are not electrified and can be slow, there are several slow stretches that don't allow more than 70-80 km/h.

 

[Class73Electro]

Interesting article in Swedish, so haven't translated it yet, but looks possibly like the Arlanda Express are replacing their trains with Stadler Flirt units

 

[JonasB]

Interesting article in Swedish, so haven't translated it yet, but looks possibly like the Arlanda Express are replacing their trains with Stadler Flirt units

Correct, they ordered seven Flirts earlier this year. https://www.stadlerrail.com/en/medi...arlanda-airport-and-stockholm-central-station

Stadler has received an order from the Swedish railway company A-Train AB to supply seven FLIRT trains with an option for a further train. The trains will be produced at Stadler's site in the Rhine Valley SG and will run between Arlanda Airport and Stockholm Central Station from the end of 2029.