History
Local trains have been operated on the railways around Stockholm since the late nineteenth century. At the beginning, local rail services were part of the Swedish State Railways, but in the late-1960s, the responsibility for these services was transferred to Stockholm County, which incorporated it with the ticketing system of Stockholm Transport. New trains were bought, stations were modernised, and the Stockholm commuter rail network was developed with an aim of making it more metro-like. Originally the system was branded as SL förortståg (English: SL suburban train), and later as SL lokaltåg (English: SL local/commuter train). Only in the 1980s did the system officially became known as Stockholms pendeltåg.
In its first year of operation there was only one route which went from Södertälje to Kungsängen via Stockholm Central Station. On June 1, 1969, the system was extended to Märsta via a branch located after Karlberg and a new service was created in which trains on the Kungsängen branch terminated at Stockholm C instead. In 1975 another branch line opened to Västerhaninge, with a single-track shuttle service to Nynäshamn. Trains on the Kungsängen branch now terminated at Västerhaninge instead of Stockholm C and which now forms part of the modern line 35.
From 1986 until 1996, important improvements were made to the railways around Stockholm. Single-track stretches were upgraded to double tracks, and some double-track stretches were upgraded to four-track, allowing the commuter trains to run with less interference from other rail services. The service frequency was gradually increased, and from 2001 most stations on the network are served by trains at regular 15-minute intervals, with additional trains during rush hours.
The latest extension to the commuter rail network is the outer stretch between Kungsängen and Bålsta which was opened in 2001. An in-fill station at Årstaberg was inaugurated in 2006, in order to connect with the then-new Tvärbanan light-rail system. On August 18, 2008 the newest station in the system, Gröndalsviken opened on the Västerhaninge-Nynäshamn shuttle.
Beginning on December 9, 2012, it is now possible for Stockholm commuter rail trains to stop at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, where it takes 38 minutes from Arlanda C station to Stockholm C, and 18 minutes from Arlanda C to Uppsala C.
Operation of the Stockholm commuter rail lines has been contracted to private companies since 2000. The first franchise holder was Citypendeln, which operated the Stockholm commuter rail from 2000 until June 17, 2006. Since then, the network is currently operated by Stockholmståg, a subsidiary of SJ AB, the former Swedish State Railways company.
Read more about this topic: Stockholm Commuter Rail
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