Western Main Line

Västra stambanan ( Western main line ) is a railway line in southern Sweden, which runs from Gothenburg to Stockholm. It connects the two largest Swedish cities and is one of the most important rail connections in the country.

History

In the mid-19th century, the Swedish Parliament, a railway network decided to build consisting of trunk routes. It was especially the railroad lines from Stockholm to Gothenburg and Skåne expand. For the Västra stambanan to Gothenburg it was decided to build the shortest route, then the thus important cities such as Skara and Örebro not touched.

On 1 December 1856 of first section of Gothenburg was inaugurated by Jonsered. In November 1862, the entire route was completed. The travel time was 14 hours.

Until 1926, the electrification was completed in 1958 the entire route was expanded to double track.

Since 1990, the Västra the high-speed train is traveling stambanan X2000 with 200 km / h and so shortened the travel time for the trip from Gothenburg to Stockholm to three hours. In 1995, a new line of Järna by Fleming mountain, past, opened in Södertälje. Meanwhile, the portion of Järna is equipped to Stockholm S with four tracks, two for long-distance trains and two for suburban trains. Between Gothenburg and Alingsås there are two tracks for mixed traffic with X2000, regional trains, Pendeltåg and numerous freight trains.

The trunk is used by SJ AB, regionally but also by other operators as Västtrafik and Storstockholms local tobacconist.