Roslagsbanan
| Roslagsbanan | |
|---|---|
 | |
 A train arrives at Viggbyholm on Roslagsbanan | |
| Overview | |
| Owner | Storstockholms Lokaltrafik |
| Locale | Sweden |
| Termini | Stockholm |
| Service | |
| Type | Commuter rail |
| History | |
| Opened | 1885 |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 65 km (40.39 mi) |
| Track gauge | [[Swedish three foot gauge railways|891]] |
| Operating speed | 80 km/h (50 mph) |
Roslagsbanan is an 891 mm (2 ft 11+3⁄32 in) (three Swedish feet) narrow-gauge urban railway system in Stockholm County, Sweden. Its combined route length is 65 kilometres (40 miles) and there are 39 stations.
The line starts in Stockholm at Stockholm East Station (Stockholms östra station, Stockholm Ö). It goes north and splits into three branch lines at the branch stations Djursholms Ösby and Roslags Näsby, terminating in Näsbypark, Österskär and Kårsta respectively.
It has double track between Stockholm and Viggbyholm and between Åkers Runö and Åkersberga. The rest is single track, but double tracks along the line to Vallentuna is being built in 2012. Possibilities for trains to meet exist at some stations at the single track parts, at Altorp, Hägernäs, Rydbo, Österskär, Visinge, Täby kyrkby, Kragstalund, Vallentuna, Ormsta, Lindholmen and Kårsta.
Ownership and present use
The railway is owned by the Stockholm landsting through the commuter traffic company Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), and is not a part of the nationally owned network. It is the only narrow gauge railway in Sweden that is still used for commercial traffic.
Roslagsbanan is part of the Stockholm public transport system. It is operated under contract by Arriva Sverige from 7 January 2013.[2] Arriva Sverige took over from previous contracted company Roslagståg AB, which was a joint venture by the Danish DSB and Tågkompaniet.
Despite its age and partly poor capacity it is one of the most used railways in Sweden. Since the 1980s, the railway has constantly but slowly been upgraded to a more modern standard with better rolling stock, higher platforms and straighter tracks allowing for higher speed.
There are fifteen departures from Stockholms östra at afternoon rush hour, with a total ridership of 42,000 journeys per day.
Network
 Geographically accurate system map | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Stockholm, Sweden |
| Locale | Stockholm County, Sweden |
| Dates of operation | 1885[3]–present |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 891[4] |
| Electrification | yes, 1500 V DC |
| Length | 65 km or 40.4 mi[5] |
The stations along Roslagsbanan 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") and the S used for tram stations ("spårvägshållplats").
Roslagsbanan is now used by Storstockholms lokaltrafik (SL) for commuter transport. The present network is the southern part of what was once a much bigger network, made up from privately owned railways all over Roslagen, connecting Stockholm and Uppsala with the countryside and used for passenger and freight trains. For more information on this, see the history section below.
| Line | Stretch | Length | Stations | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | Stockholms Östra – Djursholms Ösby – Roslags Näsby – Vallentuna – Lindholmen – Kårsta | 41.5 km (25.8 mi) | 23 | Opened 1885 |
| 28 | Stockholms Östra – Djursholms Ösby – Roslags Näsby – Åkersberga – Österskär | 29.5 km (18.3 mi) | 20 | Opened 1901 to Åkersberga, 1906 to Österskär |
| 29 | Stockholms Östra – Djursholms Ösby - Lahäll - Näsbypark | 11.5 km (7.1 mi) | 12 | Opened 1928 to Lahäll and 1937 to Näsbypark |
| Total | 65 km (40 mi) | 39 | ||
The line numbers are not dislayed on the trains, only the name of the destination is displayed.
In the time tables of Samtrafiken, the lines do not have the numbers as stated above, but the numbers 121 for the line to Kårsta, 122 for the line to Österskär and 123 for the line to Näsbypark.
Rolling stock
|}
Current rolling stock
The present train sets were manufactured by ABB Railcar (nowadays Bombardier) and delivered in 1988–1995. The train sets are owned by SL, but maintained and operated by Roslagståg.
The trains are basically set together of three different vehicles:
- Motor coach X10p Number of vehicles: 35, Seating capacity: 72, Length: 19.9 metres, Weight: 27.7 tonnes, Power rating: 400 kW (540 hp), Maximum speed: 80 km/h (50 mph)
- Manoeuver carriage UBxp Number of vehicles: 34, Seating Capacity: 76, Length: 19.9 metres (65 ft 3 in), Weight: 16.3 tonnes (16 long tons; 18 short tons)
- Bogie carriage UBp Number of vehicles: 32, Seating Capacity: 80, Length: 19.9 metres (65 ft 3 in), Weight: 16 tonnes (15.7 long tons; 17.6 short tons)[6]
There are some problems with the rolling stock, the carriages have very poor wheelchair accessibility due to narrow doors and stairs, this is also problematic for luggage and prams. The trains are also very noisy, especially considering the railway mostly goes through built up suburban areas.
Because of this SL began the process of finding a company from which to order modern trains to meet the rising demand for departures on Roslagsbanan in 2010. New trains are scheduled to be delivered in 2014.
Older trains
The trains which were still in use until the early 1990s were partly vehicles as old as from the beginning of the century. Some of these old brown and wooden waggons have been saved, the oldest ones being from 1914. They are owned by Spårvägsmuseet (Stockholm Tramway Museum) and are managed by Roslagsbanans Veterantågsförening (RBV) ("The Veteran Train Club for Roslagsbanan") and can be chartered for events.
Some old trains have also been sold to other Swedish narrow gauge railways, which are now only heritage railways, where they are used for tourists.
Future
Works are going on to beat congestion and intensify the traffic on the biggest lines serving the suburbs Täby and Vallentuna. New double track sections are built. The plan are to have double track to Åkersberga and to Vallentuna in 2014. There are plans to upgrade the current maximum speed of 80 to 120 km/h (50 to 75 mph). New trains are needed for the traffic increase which are expected to be delivered in 2014.
A feasibility study into extending Roslagsbanan to Arlanda Airport is currently under way, in order to better connect the northern suburbs to the airport.[7]
Current pictures
-
New bridge of Stocksund, inaugurated in 1996, with the new station on the other side of the tunnel -
Train at Rydbo -
Stockholms östra/Stockholm East Station and the entrance to the Stockholm Metro -
Platforms at Östra station
History
The present Roslagsbanan was once just the souhern part of a large narrow gauge system throughout Roslagen and east Uppland, connecting Stockholm and Uppsala with ports, smaller towns and parts of the countryside and used for both freight and passenger transports.
In 1885 the line from Stockholm East Station (Stockholm) to Rimbo opened, what is now the longest part of Roslagsbanan and originally built and run by the private enterprise Stockholm-Rimbo Järnväg (SRJ). Rimbo was a junction on the first railway connection between Stockholm and Uppsala (the government owned standard gauge mainline straight from Stockholm C to Uppsala C was not inaugurated until some years later). In 1909 SRJ changed its name to Stockholm–Roslagens Järnvägar (with the same abbreviation) following the take-over of companies running adjacent lines.
Roslagsbanan is one of the oldest electrified railway lines for public transport in Europe: The first Stockholm - Djursholm suburban part, Djursholmsbanan, was electrified in 1892.[5] and this line was at the time drawn further in to the centre of Stockholm on a tram track, ending at Engelbrektsplan next to Humlegården, allowing for just a short walk to the city centre or to inner city tram lines and busses; since 1960 this line now also ends at the East Station.
In the beginning of the 20th century and well into the 1950s, Djursholms Ösby, a branch station on Roslagsbanan, was one of the busiest railway stations in Sweden with a train stopping every three minutes and three different lines dividing from there, transporting people and goods.
In the years following World War II, more and more of Swedish railways were taken over by the government through Statens Järnvägar (SJ), a fate also shared by Roslagsbanan. In 1969 the Stockholm Landsting took over the network Stockholm-Rimbo, which is what now goes under the name Roslagsbanan, from SJ, since then using it for passenger use only, with the newly formed commuter transport company SL managing the railway.
One of the two Djursholm branches (Eddavägslinjen) was closed by SL in 1976.[8]
When SL took over the railway it had many problems. It was narrow gauge and not connected to the rest of the rail network in any way, it was very slow, buses were generally faster, especially to the areas near the end of line, and it was mostly single-track and had low capacity. Because of this there was a strong political interest to close the railway and replace it with buses and a metro line to Täby. The public opinion was much against this and after a referendum in 1980 the Landsting decided to save Roslagsbanan and invest in new trains and modernize the infrastructure and formed a new company SLJ to run Roslagsbanan. Despite this the northernmost part, Kårsta - Rimbo was closed in 1981, and the plan was to close the part Lindholmen - Kårsta as well, but it was temporarily kept due to the poor roads in the area which would be problematic for bus transport. Even though the roads have been improved the line to Kårsta is still in use today and there are currently no plans to close it. In January 2010 the station "Frescati" was closed to avoid congestion and the station "Universitetet" was moved 500 metres (550 yards) north to better serve the Stockholm University.
Pictures of formerly used parts
-
Old bridge of Stocksund, dismantled in 1997 -
Old station of Stocksund, now replaced with a station some hundred metres to the north-west, where the rails goes straighter allowing for higher speed. -
Old signal box at Djursholms Ösby
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Current networks previously connected to Roslagsbanan
Some of the northern parts of the once bigger network are still in use, but these are not formally called Roslagsbanan. These two parts are
- Uppsala–Länna–Faringe (opened in 1876 to Länna, 1885 to Faringe); Tourist traffic only, see Upsala-Lenna Jernväg.
- Dannemora–Gimo–Hargshamn–Hallstavik (Opened 1878; Dannemora–Hargshamn turned to normal gauge in the 1970s and extended in to Hallstavik 1977; SJ freight only).
Closed parts of Roslagsbanan (south of Rimbo)
- Stocksund - Långängen (1915-normal gauge tram) line, then turned to narrow gauge in 1934, closed in 1966)
- Stockholm Ö - Engelbrektsplan (1895–1960)
- Djursholms Ösby - Edddavägen (1890–1977)
- Kårsta - Rimbo (1885–1981)
See also
References
- ^ SL: Roslagsbanan
- ^ [1]
- ^ "SL annual report for the fiscal year 2007: Page 34" (PDF). SL. 2008-06-27. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
- ^ "Tekniska fakta - Roslagsbanan" (in Swedish). SL. 2006-06-01. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Historia" (in Swedish). SL. 2006-06-01. Archived from the original on 2007-10-13. Retrieved 2009-02-01.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ http://www.roslagstag.se/?page=4
- ^ Till Arlanda – AB Storstockholms Lokaltrafik
- ^ http://www.historiskt.nu/smalsp/srj/dhj/dhj.html
External links
- PDF map of all SL rail lines
- Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (Stockholm Transport) - Official site (English)
- Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (Stockholm Transport) - Official site (Swedish)
- Järnväg.net - Roslagsbanan (Swedish)
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