High-speed rail in Sweden
In Sweden many trains run at. Train types which currently attain this speed include the X 2000 tilting trains for long distances, the Regina widebody trains, the X40 double-decker regional trains, the Arlanda Airport Express X3, the VR X74-trains and the Stadler KISS double-decker regional trains.
The X2000 runs between many cities in Sweden including Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö, and to Denmark's capital, Copenhagen. While the SJ 3000 runs services up to north of Sweden, Sundsvall and Umeå, as well as Norway's capital, Oslo. The Arlanda Express trains connect Stockholm and Stockholm-Arlanda Airport.
Current plans
Upgrades to existing lines
Hundreds of kilometers of track are ready for operation, with the exception of signaling systems, catenary, and the trains themselves. A modified Regina test train, called "the Green Train", has attained a maximum speed of, with regular service at planned.There are plans for a section of the Stockholm-Malmö line to be upgraded to allow for speeds of. The implementation of these plans has been postponed indefinitely as a decision is pending on the construction of a new parallel high-speed railway. Other railways that will eventually allow speeds are long sections of Stockholm–Gothenburg, Gothenburg–Malmö, and Trollhättan–Gothenburg. A new Kramfors–Umeå line, Botniabanan has been ready for non-tilting trains since 2010, but train operators have not yet revealed plans for trains on Botniabanan, or on any other capable line. All these will be mixed passenger/freight railways.
The Swedish signalling system ATC does not currently allow for speeds higher than, and current plans only allow for higher speeds with the EU-wide ERTMS signaling system. Botniabanan has had this system in operation since 2010, allowing. The ATC system in theory allows but that would require reinstalling track equipment such as signal boxes, overhead catenary systems and signals as ATC uses point based transmission, and higher speed means new points of transmission. ATC is installed for along east of Södertälje but no trains are approved for that.
SJ have bought trains that are prepared for but limited to until a later date. In December 2021, Swedish national railway company SJ ordered 25 Zefiro Express trainsets with an option for 15 more from Bombardier Alstom, that will be capable of 250 km/h. The trains are planned to be in service from 2026.
New trainsets
In December 2021, SJ announced that they are ordering twenty-five SJ 250 trainsets which would be capable of going. They are expected to go into service in 2026, and will complement the X2000 service on the busiest lines as well as cross-border traffic with Denmark and Norway. This should be seen as an investment to be able to utilise the faster speeds of the planned new mainlines from Stockholm to Gothenburg/Malmö via Jönköping, although the centre-right Swedish government under Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has issued a new directive for the Swedish transportation agency Trafikverket to end/review those plans, and later decided to continue with parts of the plan such as the Ostlänken project, Gothenburg–Borås double tracks and Hässleholm–Lund quad tracks.New lines
There were plans for completely new high-speed railways Stockholm–Linköping–Jönköping–Borås–Gothenburg and Jönköping–Helsingborg–Copenhagen, since the existing railways are relatively congested, with mixed passenger trains, slower regional trains and even slower cargo trains. The plans said that the new railways would be built similar to the French TGV-lines with long curve radii and relatively steep inclines allowing for speeds between with non-tilting trains, dedicated for high-speed passenger trains.In 2018 Chinese corporations became interested in building of Stockholm-Oslo high-speed line. Trafikverket awarded American engineering firm Jacobs Engineering Group with the contract to consult on a proposed $24 billion high-speed rail network linking Stockholm with Gothenburg and Malmö.
In late 2022, the then newly elected centre-right Swedish government decided to completely abandon Sweden's high-speed rail project due to rising costs. Its new directive to the Swedish Transport Administration in late December stated that Trafikverket shall pause planning of all sections and analyse how costs could be lowered for the Borås – Gothenburg, Ostlänken and Europaspåret. It motivated this by the rising costs and wanting to increase regional passenger services, therefore not wanting to complete the whole high speed railway network project. However, Trafikverket has stated several times that it is impossible to further increase services on most lines where its needed due to full capacity on both the Southern Main Line and Western Main Line. Critics has pointed out that this makes it harder to increase railway cargo traffic, going against Swedens and the EU's promises to lower emissions. Also, a partial upgrade of the mainlines from double-track to four-track railway on busy sections, instead of building new double-track lines, would lead to major disturbances during the period of construction, as well as creating single points of failure where a large part of railway traffic would be halted if for instance an accident occurs on the line.
However, the government later chose to continue parts of the high-speed rail projects such as the Ostlänken project, Gothenburg–Borås double tracks and Hässleholm–Lund quad tracks.
Future proposals
The Borås–Jönköping–Linköping line of Götalandsbanan, and a Jönköping–Hässleholm line, Europabanan, giving a new national network in South Sweden, were included in the official plans investigated by the Traffic administration. They have been shelved without a set date for realisation.A few other projects have preplanning done by the Traffic administration with an ambition by the government to build them at a future time:
- Norwegian border-Arvika together with a Norwegian project towards Oslo. Ski south of Oslo has been selected as western end point of it.
- Gävle-Sundsvall is single-track, partially from the early 20th century, partly from just after 1990. A part close to Gävle is planned to have construction start of a fast double track railway before 2030.
- Sundsvall-Härnösand, part of the coastal mainlines Stockholm-Umeå, is very curvy and buses have shorter travel time than trains. A new railway is preplanned.
- Helsingborg-Helsingør tunnel is planned and wished by Helsingborg city with less interest from the Danish side and the Swedish government. A tunnel for long distance train traffic would need a lot of new connecting railway all the way Hässleholm-Copenhagen.
- A new railway Kristinehamn-Örebro together with doubling and straightening Kil-Kristinehamn and Örebro-Västerås is proposed by the regions and cities it passes.
- A new railway Göteborg-Uddevalla-Strömstad-Oslo is proposed by the Swedish cites and municipalities it passes.
Travel times
These are realistic travel times based on the former plans to create a high speed railway network from Stockholm to Gothenburg and Malmö via Jönköping.| Gothenburg – Stockholm | Malmö – Stockholm | Copenhagen – Stockholm | Kastrup – Arlanda | |
| Trains | 3:05 | 4:25 | 5:15 | 5:45 |
| Improvements on current railways according to 2020 plans - Malmö City Tunnel – 10 min faster - 250 km/h trains – 15 min faster - More tracks – 10 min faster | 2:40 | 4:00 | 4:40 | 5:10 |
| Ostlänken and Götalandsbanan - Stockholm to Nässjö – 45 min faster | 2:15 | 3:15 | 3:55 | 4:25 |
| Proposed Europabanan built | 2:15 | 2:40 | 3:20 | 3:30 |
| By plane, including check-in - including transportation to city centres, hand luggage only, priority security check. - Kastrup-Arlanda is with checkin but without ground transportation, and is relevant for those who change plane at Kastrup which many do | 2:30 | 2:30 | 2:45 | 1:40 |