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 tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

s 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 ...

. It was created in 1887 as an agency belonging to the

Ministry for Civil Service Affairs The Ministry for Civil Service Affairs ( sv, Civildepartementet) was a ministry in Sweden, established through the 1840 ministerial reform. The ministry and its most important areas of responsibility were agriculture, ''bergsrörelse'', trade, ship ...

, with the task of managing all state-owned railway lines in Sweden, and was transferred to the

Ministry of Communications A Communications Ministry or Department of Communications is a ministry or other government agency charged with communication. Communications responsibilities includes regulating telecommunications, postal services, broadcasting and print media. T ...

in 1920. In 1988, the rail tracks themselves were transferred to the

Swedish Rail Administration , genre = , fate = , predecessor = Swedish State Railways , successor = Swedish Transport Administration , foundation = 1988 , founder = , defunct = 31 March 2010 , location_city ...

( sv, Banverket), and in the upcoming years parts of SJ were gradually transformed into limited companies as a result of the

open access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which research outputs are distributed online, free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 definition), or libre op ...

obligation introduced by

EU Directive 91/440 The Single European Railway Directive 2012''2012/34/EUis an EU Directive that regulates railway networks in European Union law. This recast the "First Railway Directive" or "Package" from 1991, and allows open access operations on railway lines ...

. 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 co ...

, which operates freight trains *

Jernhusen Jernhusen AB owns and runs railway stations and other buildings attached to the railway network in Sweden. The company was formed on 1 January 2001 as part of the break-up of Statens Järnvägar The Swedish State Railways ( sv, Statens Järn ...

, 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 SNC-Lavalin Rail & Transit (Interfleet Technology until 2015) is an international rail consultancy company headquartered in Derby, England. It was founded in 1994. In October 2011 the company was acquired by SNC-Lavalin. In January 2016 the com ...

, 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 The Swedish Transport Administration ( sv, Trafikverket) is a government agency in Sweden, controlled by the Riksdag and the Government of Sweden. It is responsible for long-term infrastructure planning for transport: road, rail, shipping and avi ...

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{{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