Stockholm commuter rail

History

Local trains have been operated on the mainline railways around Stockholm since the late nineteenth century. At the beginning, local rail services were part of the Swedish State Railways, but in the late-1960s, the responsibility for these services was transferred to Stockholm County, which incorporated it with the ticketing system of Stockholm Transport. New trains were bought, stations were modernised, and the Stockholm commuter rail network was developed with an aim of making it more metro-like. Originally the system was branded as SL förortståg (English: SL suburban train), and later as SL lokaltåg (English: SL local/commuter train). Only in the 1980s did the system officially became known as Stockholms pendeltåg.

In its first year of operation there was only one route which went from Södertälje to Kungsängen via Stockholm Central Station. On 1 June 1969 the system was extended to Märsta via a branch located after Karlberg and a new service was created in which trains on the Kungsängen branch terminated at Stockholm C instead. In 1975 another branch line opened to Västerhaninge, with a single-track shuttle service to Nynäshamn. Trains on the Kungsängen branch now terminated at Västerhaninge instead of Stockholm C and which now forms part of the modern line 35.

From 1986 until 1996, important improvements were made to the railways around Stockholm. Single-track stretches were upgraded to double tracks, and some double-track stretches were upgraded to four-track, allowing the commuter trains to run with less interference from other rail services. The service frequency was gradually increased, and from 2001 most stations on the network are served by trains at regular 15-minute intervals, with additional trains during rush hours.

In 2001, the northwestern arm of the network was extended from Kungsängen to Bålsta. A southern infill station at Årstaberg was inaugurated in 2006 in order to connect with the then new Tvärbanan light rail system. On 18 August 2008 a new station at Gröndalsviken opened on the southeastern Västerhaninge-Nynäshamn shuttle.

Since 9 December 2012 it is possible for Stockholm commuter rail trains to stop at Stockholm Arlanda Airport. It takes 38 minutes from Arlanda C station to Stockholm C, and 18 minutes from Arlanda C to Uppsala C. Discussions on the expansion began in December 2007. The airport has had express service from Stockholm Central through Arlanda Express since 1999, and was also reachable by bus from Märsta station. The implementation required negotiations between Stockholm Transport and Arlanda Express, who had operating rights for the tracks.

Operation of the Stockholm commuter rail lines has been contracted to private companies since 2000. The first franchise holder was Citypendeln, which operated the Stockholm commuter rail from 2000 until 17 June 2006. Since then, the network is currently operated by Stockholmståg, a subsidiary of SJ AB, the former Swedish State Railways company. On 11 December 2016 MTR Corporation will commence operating the services on a ten-year contract with an option to extend for a further four.

Lines

There are two long lines across the county which run through central Stockholm: line 35 runs from Nynäshamn in the southeast to Bålsta in the northwest, and line 36 connects Södertälje in the southwest with Märsta in the north. The shorter line 37 in the southwest connects Gnesta to Södertälje. Line 38 runs from Uppsala C in the northeast to Älvsjö in the south via Stockholm Arlanda Airport and Stockholm C, with some trains continuing to Tumba. The branch to Uppsala C located after Upplands Väsby used by Line 38 utilises the existing infrastructure of the Arlanda Line and a part of the East Coast Line. The total track length of the system is 211 kilometers (131 mi).

The line to Nynäshamn beyond Västerhaninge consists of single track with passing loops. Previously, short platforms and limited passing places meant that a change of train had to be made in Västerhaninge, but as of 2013 the line has been improved with longer platforms and additional loops, and all services are now run through to Stockholm and Bålsta.

Trains operate every 30 minutes from 5 am to 1 am every day, with 15-minute intervals during the daytime. Additional trains during rush hours give an average of 7½ minutes intervals for many stations, and trains every 4½ minutes on the central parts. Line 37 and outer parts of line 35 are served less frequently, with up to two hours between trains on weekends.

Most trains stop at all intermediate stations, except a few trains during rush hours that skip some smaller stations. 269,000 passengers use Stockholm commuter trains on an ordinary weekday (counting connecting passengers double). This is almost half of the total number of train passengers in Sweden, the metro and trams not included.

Stations

There are 53 stations in the network, four of which are beyond the borders of Stockholm County. Eight stations connect with regional and long-distance trains, three connect with the light-rail tram system Tvärbanan, and three stations have access to the Stockholm metro. Several stations are important interchanges to local buses.

Most stations are of a similar style, with an island platform in a ground-level location with one or two exits, turnstiles, and a staffed ticket office. A few interchange stations have multiple platforms. The stations south of Västerhaninge and Södertälje are smaller, and have no ticket vending facilities; passengers buy their tickets from the train conductor on these parts of the network.

Stockholm Central Station is by far the biggest station in the network, the largest railway station in Scandinavia, with more than 50,000 boarding commuter rail passengers per day. This is the main station if changing from long-distance trains or from the metro. The smallest station is Hemfosa, which has approximately 100 boarding passengers per day.

The stations are marked with a J symbol, which just stands for the generic term "järnvägsstation" (i.e. railway station) and is similar to the T symbol used by the Stockholm underground railway stations ("tunnelbanestation").

The ten busiest stations (number of boarding passengers on a normal winter weekday 2005):

Rolling stock

Two types of rolling stock are currently used on the commuter rail network. The older type, X10, was delivered between 1983 and 1993, and are 50 meters (160 ft) long . A X10 train consists of two to four units, making the train 100–200 meters long.

The newer type, X60 Coradia Nordic trains from Alstom was first delivered in 2005, and a total of 71 units were delivered until 2008. A full-length train with two X60 units measures 214 metres (702 ft). Their maximum speed is 160 km/h (99 mph).

The existing fleet of X10 will be phased out and replaced with a new generation of the Coradia Nordic family called X60B. The first of 46 new trains entered service in 2016. The new Citybanan tunnel will have platform doors. Their placement is adopted for X60, and do not match the X10 doors.

Former

Future expansions

A rail tunnel is currently under construction through central Stockholm, with a planned opening date in July 2017. This new tunnel, known as Citybanan (‘the city line’), is intended for the exclusive use of the Pendeltåg system, and will split commuter traffic onto separate tracks from long-distance trains while traveling through the city. This would ease the rail systems' congestion problems, and permit Stockholm Transport to schedule more frequent service. Construction of the Citybanan began in 2008. It would also allow more frequent service for other trains, increasing the capacity for large parts of the Swedish rail network since many trains go to and from Stockholm.