The Stockholm City Line ( sv, Citybanan) is a commuter
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
tunnel
A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
beneath central
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
in
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
which is used by the
Stockholm Commuter Rail
Stockholm commuter rail ( sv, Stockholms pendeltåg) is the commuter rail system in Stockholm County, Sweden. The system is an important part of the public transport in Stockholm, and is controlled by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. The tracks are ...
. The line is long,
double track
A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track.
Overview
In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...
and
electrified
Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source.
The broad meaning of the term, such as in the history of technology, economic history ...
. It has two stations:
Stockholm City Station
Stockholm City Station is a railway station in central Stockholm, Sweden. Opened on 10 July 2017, the station is located on the Stockholm City Line and is located directly below T-Centralen (the hub of the Stockholm Metro) and interchange with St ...
is located directly below
T-Centralen
T-Centralen (Swedish for "The T-Central"; T being an abbreviation for "tunnelbana", the Swedish word for "underground" or "subway") is a metro station that forms the heart of the Stockholm metro system, in the sense that it is the only station ...
, the central station of the
Stockholm Metro
The Stockholm metro ( sv, Stockholms tunnelbana) is a rapid transit system in Stockholm, Sweden. The first line opened in 1950, and today the system has 100 stations in use, of which 47 are underground and 53 above ground. There are three colou ...
. The
Odenplan station
Odenplan station is a station on both the Green Line of the Stockholm Metro and the City Line of the Pendeltåg commuter rail network. It is located at Odenplan in Vasastaden, in Stockholm city centre.
The station was inaugurated on 26 Oct ...
is the other station, and is also served by the Green Line of the Metro. The line opened on 10 July 2017.
Route
The tunnel significantly improves the traffic throughput to and from south of Stockholm as there are only two tracks in that direction from
Stockholm Central Station
Stockholm Central Station ( sv, Stockholms centralstation) is a railway station in Stockholm, Sweden. It is situated in the district of Norrmalm at Vasagatan/Central Plan. The station opened on 18 July 1871 and it had over 200,000 visitors dai ...
, the same number that were in place in 1871 when the railway was originally built. It has 24 scheduled trains per hour in each direction. The commuter trains pass Stockholm with up to 16 trains per hour per direction. The other eight are regional and long-distance trains. The tunnel takes all commuter trains, allowing more regional and intercity trains to operate along the old line.
Placing the commuter rail traffic into a tunnel of its own thus allows increased capacity for other national rail traffic through Central Station via
Centralbron
Centralbron (, "The Central Bridge") is a major bridge in central Stockholm, Sweden, connecting the northern district Norrmalm to the southern Södermalm.
It is 1,200 metres long and consists of two viaducts passing over Söderström ("Southern ...
. The entire system for long-distance passenger railways in Sweden suffers from this bottleneck, since 80% of train rides in Sweden start or stop in Stockhol
As a result, there is no room to increase the frequency of commuter, regional, and long-distance trains despite their heavy usage.
Seen from south to north, the route of the Citybanan tunnel branches off the after
Stockholm South Station
Stockholm South, ''Stockholms södra'', Stockholm S, locally known as ''Södra Station'' (Southern Station) is a railway station in Södermalm, Stockholm, Sweden.
The Stockholm South railway station was originally opened in the year 1860, and w ...
on
Södermalm
Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is a district and island in central Stockholm.
Overview
The district covers the large island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''). Although Södermalm usually is considered an island, wa ...
, and continues beneath the bay bottom of
Riddarfjärden
Riddarfjärden (, "The Knight Firth") is the easternmost bay of Mälaren, Lake Mälaren in central Stockholm. Stockholm was founded in 1252 on an island in the stream where Lake Mälaren (from the west) drains into the Baltic Sea (to the east); to ...
at
Söderström, beneath the islet of
Riddarholmen
Riddarholmen (, "The Knights' Islet") is a small islet in central Stockholm, Sweden. The island forms part of Gamla Stan, the old town, and houses a number of private palaces dating back to the 17th century. The main landmark is the church Riddarh ...
, beneath Riddarfjärden at
Norrström
Norrström is one of the shortest rivers in Europe in central Stockholm. It connects Lake Mälaren with the Baltic Sea. It runs from Riddarfjärden, north of Gamla stan, to Stockholms ström (the western part of Saltsjön). Two islands lie within ...
, to the new City Station. From there, it continues beneath
Norrmalm
Norrmalm is a city district in Stockholm, Sweden.
History
Norrmalm is part of the larger borough of Norrmalm (''Norrmalms stadsdelsområde'').
The southern part of the district, Lower Norrmalm (''Nedre Norrmalm''), also known as City, cons ...
to Odenplan Station, then beneath
Vasastaden to join with the
East Coast Line at
Tomteboda
Tomteboda is a place in northern Stockholm, Sweden, known for its mail terminal and its shunting yard. A new railway tunnel for commuters has been built between Stockholm South Station and Tomteboda.
See also
* Stockholm commuter rail
* Swe ...
.
History
as part of the Stockholm City Line."
The project was proposed by the
Swedish State Railways
The Swedish State Railways ( sv, Statens Järnvägar) or SJ, originally the Royal Railway Board ( sv, Kungl. Järnvägsstyrelsen), was the former government agency responsible for operating the state-owned railways in Sweden.
It was created i ...
in 1988 and, after initially being disregarded as too expensive, was seriously considered again from 2002. In 2006, the
Swedish Rail Administration
, genre =
, fate =
, predecessor = Swedish State Railways
, successor = Swedish Transport Administration
, foundation = 1988
, founder =
, defunct = 31 March 2010
, location_city ...
agreed with the city and
Storstockholms Lokaltrafik
Storstockholms Lokaltrafik, or more formally Aktiebolaget Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (Greater Stockholm Local Transit Company), is the organisation running all of the land based public transport systems in Stockholm County. It was previously k ...
on the financing of the project, and the last step in the planning process was scheduled for 2006–2007. The cost of the tunnel and stations was estimated at 16.3 billion
Swedish kronor.
After the general elections of 2006, the new
Alliance government called the project into question. Representatives of the government announced on October 1 of that year that they were scrapping Citybanan in favor of building a third railway track through the city. In December 2006, however, the government's appointed expert, recommended building the tunnel following a renewed assessment of the project. In May 2007 the government finally decided to build the tunnel. In September 2014 the tunnel reached its full length.
Coordinates:
*Southern tunnel entrance:
*Northern tunnel entrance:
References
External links
Swedish Transport Administration – The Stockholm City LineDagens Nyheter – Citybanan börjar byggas i sommar{{in lang, sv
Railway lines in Sweden
Railway lines opened in 2017
Rail transport in Stockholm
Underground commuter rail
2017 establishments in Sweden