Transport in Sweden

Transportation in Sweden.

Railways

Rail transport are operated by SJ, Green Cargo, Tågkompaniet and a number of regional companies.

*Total: 12,821 km (includes 3,594 km of privately owned railways) or 9227 km of public railways
*standard gauge: 12,821 km RailGauge|sg gauge (7,918 km electrified and 1,152 km double track) (1998)
*narrow gauge: 221 km 0.891-m gauge (2001)

The Inland Railway runs from Gällivare in the north to Kristinehamn in the centre of the country. It was into service in the beginning of the 20th century to develop the northern territories of Sweden. Now it serves mainly touristical and wood transportation purposes.

Trams, Light Rail, and Metros

Gothenburg has the most extensive network in Northern Europe, consisting of 190 km on a total track length of 80 km; see Gothenburg tram). 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. Norrköping has a rather small but growing network.

Cities with Light Rail;
* Gothenburg: Gothenburg tram
* Norrköping: Norrköping tramway
* Stockholm: Tvärbanan, Nockebybanan, Djurgården line

Cities with Metro Systems;
* Stockholm: Stockholm Metro (Stockholms Tunnelbana)

Railway links with adjacent countries

* Norway - yes - at Kornsjo, Østfold - same gauge - same voltage
* Finland - yes - at Tornio/Haparanda - break-of-gauge 1435mm/1524mm
* Denmark - yes - Oresund bridge - same gauge - voltage change 15kVAC/25kVAC.

Road traffic

"See also: Driving on the left or right"

Sweden had left-hand traffic ("Vänstertrafik" in Swedish) from approximately 1736 and continued to do so well into the 20th century. Despite this virtually all cars in Sweden were actually left-hand drive and the neighbouring Nordic countries already drove on the right, leading to some confusion at border crossings. 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.

Highways

Motorways run through Sweden, Denmark and over the Öresund Bridge to Stockholm, Gothenburg, Uppsala and Uddevalla. The system of motorways is still under construction and a new motorway from Uppsala to Gävle recently opened.

*total: 210,760 km
*paved: 162,707 km (including 1,428 km of expressways)
*unpaved: 48,053 km (1999)
*Waterways: 2,052 km
*note: navigable for small steamers and barges

Ports and harbours

*Gothenburg
*Gävle
*Halmstad
*Helsingborg
*Hudiksvall
*Kalmar
*Kapellskär
*Karlshamn
*Malmö
*Norrköping
*Nynäshamn
*Stockholm
*Sundsvall
*Sölvesborg
*Varberg
*Västerås

Merchant marine

*total: 167 ships (GRT|1,000|metric|first=yes or over) totaling GRT|2,205,370|metric/DWT|1,663,091|metric|first=yes
*ships by type: (2000 est.)
**bulk carrier 5
**cargo ship 28
**chemical tanker 31
**combination ore/oil 4
**liquified gas 1
**petroleum tanker 29
**railcar carrier 1
**roll-on/roll-off 40
**short-sea passenger 4
**specialized tanker 6
**vehicle carrier 17

Airports

"See also: Swedish Civil Aviation Administration"

*255 (2000 estimate)

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: 147
**over 3,047 m: 3
**2,438 to 3,047 m: 11
**1,524 to 2,437 m: 80
**914 to 1,523 m: 28
**under 914 m: 25

Airports - with unpaved runways

**total: 108
**914 to 1,523 m: 5
**under 914 m: 103
*Heliports
**1 (2000 est.) (Every hospital, airport and military base has Helipads.)

List of airports

*Gothenburg City Airport
*Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport
*Kalmar Airport
*Malmö-Sturup Airport
*Stockholm-Arlanda Airport
*Stockholm-Bromma Airport
*Stockholm-Skavsta Airport

ee also

* Sweden

*Government agencies in Sweden
*Scandinavian Airlines System
*Volvo, Saab Automobile, Saab, Scania
*Estonia disaster

References

*CIA World Factbook 2001