photo: Wikimedia commons / Public Records Office Victoria / CC0 1.0 UNIVERSAL /Image from the collection of the Swedish Railway Museum in Gävle
Dive into the fascinating story of Swedish railways, marked by breakthroughs and unexpected turns. While the future remains uncertain, its rich history offers clues about whether liberalizing the railway system is truly the right path.
Unified Sweden’s Early Days: From Viking Tribes to a Rival of Denmark
The history of unified Sweden begins with the gradual alliance of Viking tribes across Swedish lands. Erik the Victorious, the first historically recorded king of Sweden, ruled in the 10th century. In the following years, Sweden would become Christianized, moving away from its pagan gods. In Northern Europe, Sweden’s biggest rival emerged as Denmark. Sweden gradually came under Danish control, leading to the creation of the Kalmar Union at the end of the 14th century, with Denmark holding a dominant role.
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Breaking Free from the Kalmar Union: The Rise of Gustav Vasa
Sweden escaped the union of the three Nordic states in 1523, following an uprising led by Swedish noble Gustav Vasa. Upon regaining independence, Sweden became a Protestant nation that steadily gained power, evidenced by a series of successful wars against neighboring states. These victories established Sweden as the dominant power around the Baltic Sea. However, Sweden’s influence was later reduced by Russia’s victory in the Great Northern War in 1721.
A minor consolation came with a personal union with Norway, which Denmark had to relinquish as punishment for siding with Napoleon during the wars. Sweden solidified its modern borders after a referendum in 1905, through which Norway voted for independence.
Sweden’s First Railways and the Start of Modern Transport
The first documented horse-drawn railway in Sweden was built in 1798, connecting nearby mines with the port of Höganäs in the south. This mode of transport expanded gradually until the mid-19th century when steam railways began to replace it. However, steam railways initially met significant resistance in conservative Sweden. Concerns included fears that the laid tracks would be stolen by the public and superstitions labeling steam engines as “the devil’s machine.” Despite this hesitation, in 1854, the construction of a railway network was approved. The main lines would be state-built, with branch lines developed by private companies.
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Expansion of Sweden’s Railway Network: Key Projects and Speed Progress
The first steam railways opened in 1856, including the 30 km private line from Örebo to Nora and the state-operated Göteborg-Jonsered (10 km) and Malmö-Lund (15 km) routes. The initial locomotives used on Swedish tracks were purchased from England. By the 1860s, Swedish companies began manufacturing their own engines. Engineer Nils Eriscon was closely involved in Sweden’s railway construction, managing it until he stepped down in 1862.
The first major project, the 600 km Western Main Line connecting Stockholm to Göteborg, was completed in 1862 with a travel time of 14 hours. In 1864, the Southern Main Line followed. As more main routes were completed in the 1870s, it became clear that a mixed system of state and private railways wasn’t optimal. In 1879, the Swedish State Railways (SJ) began buying private lines, a process that concluded in the second half of the 20th century.
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Electrifying Swedish Railways: A Transportation Revolution
Construction of Sweden’s railway network continued into the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By 1907, speeds on most main lines were increased to 90 km/h. Sweden didn’t stop there; by the 1930s, some lines reached 110 km/h. Thanks to Sweden’s neutral stance in both world wars and its remote location, its railway infrastructure remained relatively undamaged. This gave Swedish railways a significant advantage over other European systems.
Before World War I and especially between the wars, Sweden fully embraced the electrification of its rail network. In 1910, the Swedish parliament approved the electrification of the Kiruna-Riksgränsen line, with electric services beginning in 1915. The Stockholm-Göteborg mainline followed, with electric operations starting in 1926 and extending to other mainlines in the 1930s. In 1942, Sweden achieved a milestone with the completion of the 2,022 km electrified line from Trelleborg in the south to Riksgränsen on the Norwegian border—the longest electrified railway in the world.
Post-War Acceleration: New Technologies and Speed Records
The post-war years in Sweden were marked by increasing railway speeds. In 1946, trains on the Alvesta-Eslöv line reached 120 km/h. Sweden soon ordered SJ Rc locomotives in the 1970s, which were designed to operate at 160 km/h. Meanwhile, less essential lines were closed, and significant routes were modernized. In 1988, infrastructure management was separated from operations with the formation of Banverket, which later merged with Trafikverket in 2010.
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Market Liberalization and the Future of Swedish Rail
The 1990s saw the introduction of new X 2000 trains, which cut travel times between Stockholm and Gothenburg to under four hours and set a new Swedish speed record of 276.3 km/h. By the end of the millennium, Sweden celebrated another milestone: the Öresund Bridge linking Copenhagen and Malmö, which became crucial for the prosperity of southern Sweden’s Skåne region.
In 2018, Sweden’s railway was officially ranked one of the world’s most liberalized systems alongside the UK. Despite a push to increase speeds on main lines to 200–250 km/h, the country ultimately fell short, achieving 200 km/h but unable to make further advancements network-wide.
High-speed rail lines were proposed between Stockholm-Linköping-Jönköping-Borås-Gothenburg and Jönköping-Helsingborg-Copenhagen, with planned speeds of 300 km/h. However, in 2022, the Swedish government abandoned the high-speed rail plan due to rising costs. They retained the goal to increase speeds on select routes to 250 km/h. Today, Sweden’s rail network covers nearly 11,000 km, with over 8,000 km electrified.
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Source: RailfanEurope.net; Hhogman.se