Rail Transport in Sweden - Main Lines

Main Lines

There used to be six main lines (stambanor), all nationally owned:

• Västra stambanan (Western main line), 453 km, Stockholm-Gothenburg through Katrineholm-Hallsberg-Laxå-Falköping
• Södra stambanan (Southern main line), 381 km, Malmö-Falköping through Nässjö-Jönköping
• Östra stambanan (Eastern main line), 216 km, Nässjö-Katrineholm through Mjölby-Linköping-Norrköping)
• Norra stambanan (Northern main line), 484 km, Stockholm-Ånge through Uppsala-Avesta Krylbo
• Stambanan genom övre Norrland (Main line through upper Norrland), 629 km, Bräcke-Boden through Långsele-Vännäs
• Nordvästra stambanan (Northwestern main line), 209 km, Laxå-Norwegian border through Karlstad-Kil-Charlottenberg

Also these lines have for a period been called main lines:

• Mittbanan (Norrland cross line), about 500 km, Sundsvall-Norwegian border through Ånge-Östersund
• Inlandsbanan, about 1300 km, Kristinehamn-Gällivare through Mora-Östersund

The principle was that the main lines were built by the state, but all others by private companies, often owned by cities to support their local need. In the period 1930-1950 most lines were purchased by the state, making the main line term less well defined.

Today, changes have been made in the terminology making the number of main lines four. The northwestern main line is not considered a main line anymore and is renamed Värmlandsbanan. The southern main line between Nässjö and Falköping is also degraded since now what was the Eastern main line (Nässjö - Katrineholm) is considered a part of the southern one. The Norrland cross line is not a main line anymore, but a regional railway. Finally the northern main line south of Ockelbo refers to another and shorter way than that through Avesta. Sometimes the Ostkustbanan Stockholm-Sundsvall is now considererd a main line, since it has the majority of the passenger traffic into Norrland. Inlandsbanan was considered a main line for a few decades, but is now a tourist railway only. The main lines are still owned by the state, except Inlandsbanan which is owned by the counties.