The Swedish State Railways ( sv, Statens Järnvägar) or SJ, originally the Royal Railway Board ( sv, Kungl. Järnvägsstyrelsen), was the former
government agency
A government or state agency, sometimes an appointed commission, is a permanent or semi-permanent organization in the machinery of government that is responsible for the oversight and administration of specific functions, such as an administrati ...
responsible for operating the state-owned
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 Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...
s in
Sweden.
It was created in 1887 as an agency belonging to the
Ministry for Civil Service Affairs, with the task of managing all state-owned railway lines in Sweden, and was transferred to the
Ministry of Communications in 1920.
In 1988, the rail tracks themselves were transferred to the
Swedish Rail Administration ( sv, Banverket), and in the upcoming years parts of SJ were gradually transformed into limited companies as a result of the
open access obligation introduced by
EU Directive 91/440. SJ was disbanded in 2001, with the assets transferred to seven separate companies, the first three owned by the Swedish government and the latter four being privatized:
*
SJ AB, usually called SJ, the passenger train operator
*
Green Cargo
Green Cargo AB is a Swedish state-owned logistics company transporting various types of goods by train. It was created on 1 January 2001 out of the logistics division of Swedish State Railways (SJ) and became a government-owned limited ...
, which operates freight trains
*
Jernhusen
Jernhusen AB owns and runs railway stations and other buildings attached to the railway network in Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal ...
, real estate
*
EuroMaint, currently a part of
CAF, train maintenance
*
Unigrid, information technology
*
TraffiCare, which provides terminal services, e.g. train cleaning and switching
*
TrainTech Engineering, currently a part of
SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit, the technical unit.
Some of them have been sold to other companies, but SJ AB, Green Cargo and Jernhusen are still fully government owned (as of ).
Apart from these companies, Statens Järnvägar after 2001 continued to exist as a governmental agency, mainly dealing with the leasing of rail vehicles, but otherwise had no regular railroad activities. It was dismantled at the end of 2012 when that role was fully taken over by
Trafikverket.
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Statensjarnvagar
Defunct railway companies of Sweden
Railway companies established in 1887
Railway companies disestablished in 2001
Government agencies established in 1887
Government agencies disestablished in 2001
Government-owned railway companies
Swedish companies established in 1887
Swedish companies disestablished in 2001