Operators
The monopoly of the state owned railway operator has to some extent been cancelled. Major national passenger train operators SJ AB (usually just called SJ), and the cargo transport operator, Green Cargo, are both fully owned by the state. A private company Tågkompaniet operates in central Sweden, and there are a number of regional companies. Tram systems are used in Gothenburg, Norrköping and Stockholm. There is a metro system in Stockholm, the Stockholm Metro.
SJ has no longer a monopoly to operate passenger trains where they can be run profitably from a commercial point of view. This is mostly the case for X2000 trains and some regional trains around Stockholm. Most other railways are not profitable. Average speed is an important factor regarding profitability (more distance per hour means more income per hour). For regional trains (within one county or up to about 100 km distance) the counties buy traffic by signing a contract with an operator. The operator is often SJ, but sometimes another operator, either Swedish or from one of the other EU countries, provides the service. For these regional trains the county transport authority sells tickets. For long-distance trains (i.e., longer than the regional trains) that are not profitable, a national authority "Rikstrafiken" signs a contract with an operator to move traffic on each line (Public Service Obligation). In this case each operator markets and sell tickets. The operator for unprofitable services usually rents trains from the county transport authority or a special state organisation. This is because trains are expensive, take from two to three years to buy (from tender to delivery), and are hard to sell if the operator loses the contract. However, for the SJ monopoly traffic, SJ usually own the trains.
A decision was made in March 2009 to cancel the monopoly for SJ. Already in the autumn 2009 free competition will be allowed on Saturdays and Sundays when there is more room on the tracks, and to a full extent all days in the autumn 2010.
Rail traffic is supervised by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), a government agency.
Read more about this topic: Rail Transport In Sweden