Stockholm - Narvik direct service

[RailExplorer]

Piece in Todays Railways Europe says the through service should start 15 December 2024.

Service update :- I passed through Narvik yesterday and today enroute to the Lofoten Islands and the 15.20 to Stockholm was a bus departing at 15.00 to Riksgransen where the train would be picked up and there was an Rc6 and three coaches in the sidings this morning at 10 am waiting to go ECS to Riksgransen to form the 10.20 Lulea service. So there are still no through trains for the foreseeable.

I haven't had any changes to my ticket yet - which is shown as a through service on 14th September. There are several days prior to this that through service doesn't exist, and there are days after the 14th where nothing is showing. Wonder if I will be getting an email at some point about a bus replacement.

 

[tgsh2011]

I can confirm that NT94 from Stockholm Central to Narvik is running direct to Narvik and no replacement buses were involved. I took the train last night (12 September) and arrived in Narvik 6 minutes ahead of schedule at 12:34 on 13 September. The journey was spectacular and the sleeper was very comfortable. Highly recommended.

 

[jamesontheroad]

I can confirm that NT94 from Stockholm Central to Narvik is running direct to Narvik and no replacement buses were involved. I took the train last night (12 September) and arrived in Narvik 6 minutes ahead of schedule at 12:34 on 13 September. The journey was spectacular and the sleeper was very comfortable. Highly recommended.

Glad you enjoyed the journey. There has been so much disruption in the last year due to track repairs. SJ take over operation of the train from Vy and we can hope that they will also resolve many of the complaints reported by passengers about ticket prices and poor standards of cleaning during the Vy-years.

(I should say you were lucky... I drove past Umeå C this morning and noticed that last night's train 92 had a much less smooth journey. It departed Stockholm C on time last night and arrived on time in Umeå C at 07.12 this morning, but then encountered some kind of delay and eventually departed for Luleå 3hrs 20min late at 10.22. It should reach Luleå four hours late at 15.50 this afternoon. With 92 blocking platform 1a at Umeå C, SJ's combined night train from Stockholm C and Gothenburg C was forced to use platform 3, which made for an impressive view of two night trains at the same time.)

 

[jamesontheroad]

On the subject of the Narvik and Luleã night trains, Trafikverket, the Swedish Transport Administration has rated them worst for cleanliness. Public television SVT investigated the quality of hygiene on the daytime train from Luleå to Gällivare, which is operated using similar rolling stock.

Source: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/lokalt/n...nkigt-och-smuts-som-kryper-upp-efter-vaggarna

My translation:

The night trains to Narvik were the worst cleaned of all in an inspection by the Swedish Transport Administration - SVT's reporter: "The most disgusting job I've done"​

UPDATED SEPTEMBER 24, 2024
PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 24, 2024
Ingrained dirt and the stench of urine – among three types of night trains inspected by the Swedish Transport Administration, the ones between Stockholm and Narvik were the dirtiest. When SVT went with one of the departures, she got to see it up close.
- It's the most disgusting job I've ever done, says reporter Randi Gitz.
The Swedish Transport Administration's inspector traveled between December 2023 and January 2024 between Stockholm-Narvik, Stockholm-Duved and Stockholm-Hamburg.
The night trains between Stockholm and Narvik, run by Vy Nattåg, got the worst rating.
The spaces "give a dank impression" and the inspector describes ingrown dirt creeping up the walls, old stains on the chair seats and an odor of urine.
There was a stop in the drain when the inspector was going to shower and only Swish mobile phone payment could be used in one of the restaurant cars, which meant that foreign travelers could not buy food.
The train companies Vy and SJ, which were audited, were given access to the report in June this year.
SVT has tried to get an interview with Vy Nattåg, which chose to leave a written answer. They say that they are constantly trying to improve the cleaning and that a series of measures have been introduced since the Swedish Transport Agency's inspection.

In September, SVT sent a reporter out on a round trip Luleå-Gällivare to check the situation. She traveled with Vy Nattåg no. 96 and 95 - see the findings in the clip.

Over the soon-to-be-curtailed contract period that these trains have been operated by Vy, passengers have complained about cost cutting in cleaning. I hope that a return to SJ operations brings some improvements.

 

[nwales58]

Though Luleå-Gällivare you also have 3 Norrtåg EMUs per day (on board person sells tickets, coffee and basic tidying up)

 

[miklcct]

This is yet another example of why not to use Google for public transport information. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it misleads. Clearly they do not use the authoritative source for european trains, presumably because they think everyone should write a GTFS source for them for free.

GTFS is the de-facto industry standard for public transport information and is widely adopted in the world, with lots of tooling support. An alternative is NeTEx, which is the de-jure European standard.

Having a standard is extremely important in data introductory interoperability across all modes of public transport worldwide.

If public transport providers want to ensure that the correct information is delivered across all channels worldwide, they are responsible to produce feeds in international standards such as GTFS or NeTEx.

 

[cambsy]

I have done the Stockholm-Narvik sleeper recently, and the carriages were old and bit worn etc,could tell they were old. To me,they were not disgusting,and didnt smell urine or anything like that. The loco broke down, so ended up night in hotel, paid for by NY, and on next nights sleeper, so that was only thing really.

 

[Zerothebrake!]

I have done the Stockholm-Narvik sleeper recently, and the carriages were old and bit worn etc,could tell they were old. To me,they were not disgusting,and didnt smell urine or anything like that. The loco broke down, so ended up night in hotel, paid for by NY, and on next nights sleeper, so that was only thing really.

If that was two Saturday's ago I was on that train too - I was only doing a day trip from Abisko to Narvik & back and ended up in a hotel..

The 18.06 from Stockholm last Saturday night arrived into Abisko Ostra at 13.45 for a bus forward to Narvik due to engineering work.

And from the middle of this week it's a bus all the way from Gallivare to Narvik for seven straight days I see.

 

[jamesontheroad]

The reality is that the current carriages and locomotives are nearing the end of their service life.

Trafikverket recently extended the deadline for suppliers of 16 locomotives and 99 carriages to 28 February 2025. The plan is still for deliveries to start in 2028 and by complete by 2030, so some of the current rolling stock will be in service for another six years - more, if the procurement is delayed.

 

[cambsy]

I think the OBB Night Jet’s are only Sleepers which band new in Europe, all sleepers I went on,Berlin-Stockholm SJ, and Stockholm-Narvik NY, were all old carriages.

 

[JonasB]

It depends on your definition of brand new, but VR has some pretty modern sleepers. And Caledonian sleeper doesn't use what I would call old carriages.

And there are more night trains on order from many companies, so we will see a lot happen in the next five years.

 

[Gloster]

The sleeping cars used by Vy are from the early 1990s. The locos are Rc6, but I think that most if not all of them are former Rc5 dating from the early to mid-1980s.

 

[yorkie]

Does anyone know what catering is available on this train?

I understand it splits at Boden, and there isn't a restaurant car from there to Narvik.

 

[JonasB]

Does anyone know what catering is available on this train?

The menu can be found on the Swedish website: https://www.sj.se/allt-om-resan/mat-pa-taget/bistromeny Use translation software of your choice if you don't speak Swedish (I recommend DeepL).

I understand it splits at Boden, and there isn't a restaurant car from there to Narvik.

I think the bistro car continues to Narvik if you take the direct train.

 

[AlterEgo]

The menu can be found on the Swedish website: https://www.sj.se/allt-om-resan/mat-pa-taget/bistromeny Use translation software of your choice if you don't speak Swedish (I recommend DeepL).


I think the bistro car continues to Narvik if you take the direct train.

The bistro car does continue - cold items only, but it is nonetheless a pleasant place to spend an hour or two.

 

[Zerothebrake!]

There are two train services to Lapland. The first one leaves Stockholm at 18.00 and runs through to Narvik. The second train departs at 22.00 for Lulea and this one connects into a local service in Boden for Narvik. Both services have catering consisting of Tea/ Coffee, cold drinks, wraps and microwave meals but only the Lulea service has the full size buffet car in my experience.

 

[JonasB]

SJ's website is a bit unclear about the food options to Narvik. https://www.sj.se/en/about-the-journey/food-and-drinks/food-on-sj-night-train

On one hand it says "On the night train to Jämtland, Luleå and Narvik you'll find the same selection of food and drinks as on SJ High-speed trains." But on the other hand it also says "On the Luleå–Narvik line, there is a kiosk service with a slightly smaller selection."

My interpretation is that on the direct train to Narvik there is full service onboard all the way to Narvik, but if your trip involves a change in Boden, there is a more limited service after Boden.

(And if you want to be pedantic there is only one night train to Lapland, the train to Kiruna and Narvik. Luleå is in Norrbotten, not Lapland.)

 

[jamesontheroad]

The Stockholm-Narvik and Stockholm-Luleå trains both have bistro cars with plenty of seating and a small kitchen for warming things up.

If you take the Stockholm-Luleå train as far as Boden and connect onto the daytime Luleå-Narvik train, the second part of your journey has only a small kiosk in a seated carriage. Hot drinks and snacks only.

 

[Mag_seven]

Just travelled on it - Bistro car available from 05.30 hrs on the Narvik portion.

 

[bkhtele]

UPDATE: travelled Narvick to Stockholm in a 3 person sleeper carriage (private for 2) with one tiny opening window. This is a great journey very scenic for first 3/4 hours out of Navik. Train manager moved us to a 6 person couchette (private) which was much better. Temperature was around 24°c & couchette had 2 large windows - cooler! Great customer service very helpful & proactive.
Recommendations: bring lots of water, one small cartoon is insufficient. Suggest bring some "emergency food" very limited food left this morning seemed to be same bistro car as last night. Dinner last night was good (& expensive) Perhaps don't leave it until 9.30 am & long queue. Lulea train had to be rescued by diesel as overhead line problem. This caused delay looks like we will arrive about 1 hr late.
Sleeper could do with a refesh e.g. deep clean, new curtains, & blinds would make a huge difference. If they could get the air-conditioning to work that would help during the summer. (They did tell us there would be none) Overall a great trip.

 

[nwales58]

Be grateful for 1h delay. Trondheim-Bodo has had no trains for a couple of days due to heat and SJ Norge have sent an ‘at your own risk’ email about tomorrow. Teondheim-Storlien is RRB all week.

 

[ld0595]

I did this journey back in March in a sleeper cabin starting in Stockholm and it was truly spectacular - definitely one of my favourite trips I've done!

I really enjoyed waking up in the north of Sweden after a good night's rest and looking out my window travelling through the snow and forests. The train made a few 20-30 minute rest stops en-route as well which gave a few opportunities to enjoy the snow for a while. The last 30 minutes down the fjord into Narvik was absolutely stunning too. We took the bus to Tromso which room about 4 hours but well worth it to spend time in the town. BA also fly out there a few times per week and I managed to get a cheap redemption (a nice bonus after finding out accommodation costs after we booked the outbound flight and the train..!)

I'm not sure if it's a regular occurrence, but the sleeping car had run out of water by the mornings so the toilets and shower were out of action. I would still recommend it to anyone who has the chance though.

 

[jamesontheroad]

Glad you enjoyed your trip @bkhtele despite the inconveniences. Trafikverket should announce the chosen bidders for the all new night train rolling stock by the end of this year, when we’ll get an idea of what might replace the old and frankly tired stock.

 

[doc7austin]

What I don't understand.
So the Swedish Government wants to procure new night train rolling stock ?
Such a procurement process (esp. considering requirements on running through the cold tundra) could take 4-5 years.
What is going to happen in the mean time ?