Transport in Sweden

Transportation in Sweden is carried out by car, bus, train, tram, boat or aeroplane.

Railways in Sweden
Main article: Rail transport in Sweden

Rail transport is operated by SJ, DSBFirst, Green Cargo, Vy Tåg and more. Most counties have companies that do ticketing, marketing and financing of local passenger rail, but the actual operation are done by the above-mentioned companies.

  • Total: 11,663 km (includes 3,594 km of privately (in fact county) owned railways) or 9227 km of national railways
  • standard gauge: 11,568 km 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge (7,531 km electrified and 1,152 km double track) (2008)
  • narrow gauge: 65 km of 891 mm (2 ft 11 3⁄32 in) gauge (2008)
  • Trains generally keep to the left, as opposed to all neighbouring countries.

Light rail and metros

Stockholm Metro (Stockholms Tunnelbana) is the only metro system in Sweden.

Cities with light rail (trams);

Stockholm previously had a large tram network, but this was discontinued in favour of bus and metro; a revival of the tram network was seen in the construction of Tvärbanan in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

See also: Trams in Europe
  • Norway at Kornsjø (Gothenburg-Oslo), Charlottenberg/Eda (Stockholm-Oslo), Storlien (Östersund-Trondheim, not electrified Storlien-Trondheim) and Riksgränsen (Narvik-Kiruna)
    • same gauge – same voltage – same protection system. Most Swedish and Norwegian rail vehicles can cross the border. As there is only single-track at all border crossings, there is no need for bridges to make the transition from left- to right-hand traffic.
  • Finland at Tornio/Haparanda
    • break-of-gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)/1,524 mm (5 ft) – other protection system. All freight has to be reloaded. No passenger traffic by rail.
  • Denmark at Öresund bridge
    • same gauge – voltage change 15kVAC/25kVAC – other protection system. Only custom made locomotives or EMUs can cross the border. Bridges to make the transition from left- to right-hand traffic, are located north of Malmö, so all traffic south of Malmö is in right-hand traffic.

Road traffic
Above: Left-hand traffic in Slussen in 1963. Below: Right-hand traffic in Slussen in 2007.
See also: Driving on the left or right

Sweden has right-hand traffic today like all its neighbours.

Sweden had left-hand traffic (Vänstertrafik in Swedish) from approximately 1736 and continued to do so until 1967. Despite this virtually all cars in Sweden were actually left-hand drive and the neighbouring Nordic countries already drove on the right, leading to mistakes by visitors. The Swedish voters rejected a change to driving on the right in a referendum held in 1955.

Nevertheless, in 1963 the Riksdag passed legislation ordering the switch to right-hand traffic. The changeover took place on a Sunday morning at 5am on September 3, 1967, which was known in Swedish as Dagen H (H-Day), the 'H' standing for Högertrafik or right-hand traffic.

Since Swedish cars were left-hand drive, experts had suggested that changing to driving on the right would reduce accidents, because drivers would have a better view of the road ahead. Indeed, fatal car-to-car and car-to-pedestrian accidents did drop sharply as a result. This was likely due to drivers initially being more careful and because of the initially very low speed limits, since accident rates soon returned to nearly the same as earlier.

Total roadways: 572,900 km, as of 2009.

Motorways

Motorways run through Sweden, Denmark and over the Öresund Bridge to Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala and Uddevalla. The system of motorways is still being extended. The longest continuous motorways are Värnamo-Gävle (E4; 585 km) and Rabbalshede-Vellinge (E6; 412 km; will by 2013 be extended so the motorway between Trelleborg and Oslo in Norway will be completed).

Ports and harbours

Merchant marine

Airports
See also: Swedish Civil Aviation Administration and List of airports in Sweden
  • 230 (2012)

Airports with paved runways

(Official figures. A great number of wartime airfields exist with various lengths, usually built into roads, and are usually less than 1000 m long)

    • total: 149
    • over 3,047 m: 3 (Arlanda, Landvetter, Luleå)
    • 2,438 to 3,047 m: 12
    • 1,524 to 2,437 m: 74
    • 914 to 1,523 m: 23
    • under 914 m: 37 (2012)

Airports with unpaved runways
    • total: 81
    • 914 to 1,523 m: 5
    • under 914 m: 76 (2012)
  • Heliports
    • 2 (2012) (Every hospital, airport and military base has Helipads.)

List of airports

See also

References

Media related to Transport in Sweden at Wikimedia Commons

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