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Tvärbanan is a light rail line in Stockholm, Sweden. Its name literally translated into English is Crossways line. It links together many bus and rail lines crossways through its connections with the southern, western and northern subway branches of the Stockholm Metro (Tunnelbanan) and the Stockholm commuter rail (Pendeltåg). The possibility to travel between southern, western and northern greater Stockholm without having to enter the city centre significantly reduces the number of transit passengers, also reducing the number of trains having to pass through the Old Town bottleneck during peak hours. Near Liljeholmen the track is shared with freight traffic in a short section, this being the only place in Sweden where freight traffic and trams share the same track.
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The tramway is separated from roads in most parts, but there are sections in Gröndal, Sundbyberg and Solna where the tracks run on roads among regular road traffic. In Hammarby sjöstad the trams run in a reservation in the centre of the road rather than in mixed traffic, but there are level crossings between the electric train line and several streets.
Traffic on Tvärbanan started in 2000, first between Gullmarsplan and Liljeholmen, then later between Liljeholmen and Alvik, in 2002 between Gullmarsplan and Sickla udde, and in 2013 between Alvik and Solna centrum. Tvärbanan was used by around 32,000 passengers per weekday in 2005 and 44,000 per weekday in 2007.
The bridges used by Tvärbanan include Alviksbron, Gröndalsbron, Fredriksdalsbron, and Ulvsundabron.
Lines
Tvärbanan has a single line (22) with 17 stops, going from Sickla udde south of the Stockholm city centre through Gullmarsplan, Årsta, Liljeholmen, Gröndal, and Stora Essingen to Alvik west of the city centre. In Alvik passengers can change to the northern part of the line going through Bromma and Sundbyberg to Solna. The part to Solna centrum opened 28 October 2013, and the final part to Solna station opened 18 August 2014. The new national football arena can be reached within 15 minutes walk from there.
Main interchange options
Rolling stock
Thirty-seven Flexity Swift low-floor trams run on the line (locally called A32). Six of them (432-437) are second hand and imported in 2010 from the RijnGouweLijn-project in The Netherlands. Fifteen new trams have been ordered from Spanish CAF (locally called A35) and they started operation in October 2013 on the Solna extension.
Signaling system problems
Tvärbanan has suffered from a long-standing issue of incompatible and low performing rail signaling systems. A signaling system monitors and controls the movements of rolling stock on a rail network to ensure safe operation. The Tvärbanan network features multiple different signaling systems from different vendors, because when the rail line was built even the signaling systems were tendered separately for each construction stage. A visible example of this has been at the Alvik station, which is a break point between two systems. Even though the line runs straight at Alvik, the same train cannot be run past the station because of the incompatibility of the systems. Passengers have to switch trains at Alvik, for example when traveling from Liljeholmen to Sundbyberg. Tvärbana's operator, SL, is working on the issues.
Future extension
A decision was made to extend it from Sickla udde to Sickla station where one can change to Saltsjöbanan. Construction work started in April 2015, and traffic is planned to start in the summer of 2017.
A branch line to Kista and Helenelund is under consideration, with construction work planned to start in 2017. The new branch is also planned to include a stop at Bromma Airport.