Gothenburg commuter rail

Göteborgs pendeltåg
Overview
Locale Gothenburg Metropolitan Area
Transit type Commuter rail
Number of lines 3 with 3 services
Number of stations 25
Website http://vasttrafik.se
Operation
Began operation 1960
Operator(s) SJ on behalf of Västtrafik
Technical
System length 104 km (65 mi)
Track gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Top speed 160 km/h (99 mph)

Gothenburg commuter rail or Göteborgs pendeltåg is the commuter rail system associated with Gothenburg, Sweden. The trains go on the main-line tracks, shared with long-distance trains and freight trains. They are operated with X11 and X61 electric multiple units.

Lines

There are three lines in the Gothenburg commuter rail system. The first line opened in 1960, to Alingsås. In 1992 another line to Kungsbacka was opened, when the railway had been rebuilt as double track. The railway to Trollhättan was being rebuilt as a double track railway and completed in 2012, with both a third commuter rail connection to Älvängen and a denser regional schedule to Trollhättan introduced.

Line Stretch Length Stations
Alependeln Gothenburg Central Station - Älvängen 31 km 7
Alingsåspendeln Gothenburg Central Station - Lerum - Floda - Alingsås 45 km 12
Kungsbackapendeln Gothenburg Central Station - Mölndal - Kungsbacka 28 km 8
Gothenburg commuter rail network
Legend
Älvängen
Nol
Nödinge
Bohus
Surte
Gamlestaden
Alingsås
Västra Bodarna
Norsesund
Floda
Stenkullen
Lerum
Aspedalen
Aspen
Jonsered
Partille
Sävenäs
Göteborg C
Liseberg
Mölndal
Kållered
Lindome
Anneberg
Hede
Kungsbacka
An X61 at Gothenburg Central Station
An X11 at Gothenburg Central Station

Regional rail lines

In addition there are some regional rail lines, going to cities further away, with a higher speed and more sparse stops.

Line Stretch Length Stations
Vänersborgståget Gothenburg Central Station - Trollhättan - Vänersborg 86 km 4
Boråståget Gothenburg Central Station - Borås 71 km 7
Bohuståget Gothenburg Central Station - Stenungsund - Uddevalla - Strömstad 180 km 17
Skövdetåget Gothenburg Central Station - Alingsås - Skövde 144 km 8

In opposite to Stockholm, Västtrafik allow their monthly tickets (of course within the geographic area the ticket covers) to be used also on SJ inter-city trains (but not X_2000 and some other fast trains). From 2010 all Västtrafik regional trains are part of the Västtrafik pay-per-ride ticket system.

The regional trains to Borås, Vänersborg and Skövde go in addition to the long-distance trains, filling up gaps between them, to create one-hour schedule. The trains to Strömstad are kind of long-distance train by themselves, but the county authorities has responsibility, since it was inside one county also before the county reform 1998. The railways to Borås and Strömstad are single track, which makes it hard to have denser schedule than once per hour, without having too many slow train meetings, and there are freight trains as well. The Gothenburg-Stenungsund line has extra departures creating half-hour schedule in rush hour. To Vänersborg there is from 2012 double track and sometimes two trains per hour.

A fifth rail line that can be counted as a regional rail line is the Öresundståg Gothenburg-Malmö-Copenhagen (360 km). Västtrafik monthly passes are valid to Kungsbacka, but this is not usually considered a Västtrafik line.

The most used connection on these lines is the connection to Borås, if including the about 60 daily buses that go since the railway can't support the demand. There are plans to build a new railway here, as part pf Götalandsbanan, which is going to be a super-highspeed railway (max 320 km/h). The first part, Mölnlycke-Bollebygd, is planned to be opened around 2020-2025, and later extended to Stockholm.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/18/2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.