The Coast-to-Coast Line ( sv, Kust till kust-banan) is a long Y-shaped

electric Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by ...

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 p ...

line between

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

via

Emmaboda Emmaboda () is a locality and the seat of Emmaboda Municipality, Kalmar County, Sweden. It had 4,824 inhabitants in 2010. History Until 1875, Emmaboda was called Gantesbo. Back then there were only two houses in Gantesbo, which both remain to th ...

Kalmar Kalmar (, , ) is a city in the southeast of Sweden, situated by the Baltic Sea. It had 36,392 inhabitants in 2010 and is the seat of Kalmar Municipality. It is also the capital of Kalmar County, which comprises 12 municipalities with a total of ...

and

Karlskrona Karlskrona (, , ) is a locality and the seat of Karlskrona Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with a population of 66,675 in 2018. It is also the capital of Blekinge County. Karlskrona is known as Sweden's only baroque city and is host to Swe ...

in southern

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 countries, Nordic c ...

History

The line was built as five different railways: from Gothenburg to

Borås Borås ( , , ) is a city (officially, a locality) and the seat of Borås Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 66,273 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Borås is located at the point of two crossing railways, among them th ...

, from Borås to Alvesta, from

Växjö Växjö ( ) is a city and the seat of Växjö Municipality, Kronoberg County, Sweden. It had 70,489 inhabitants (2019) out of a municipal population of 95,995 (2021). It is the administrative, cultural, and industrial centre of Kronoberg County ...

to Alvesta, from Karlskrona to Växjö and the Kalmar Line. The lines were nationalized in 1940 and 1941 and operations taken over 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 ...

. By then, the section from Gothenburg to Borås had been electrified. The remaining sections were electrified between 1954 and 1962: from Alvesta to Växjö in 1953, from Växjö to Kalmar in 1954 and from Borås to Alvesta in 1962. SJ T41 locomotives were the most common during the diesel era, and replaced by

SJ D D is a series of locomotives used by Swedish State Railways ( sv, Statens Järnvägar, SJ). 333 units were built by ASEA between 1925-43. It was used for both passenger and freight trains until it was taken out of service in 1988. History Though ...

and SJ Da locomotives after electrification. The services were also provided with

SJ X9 X9 is a series of four-car electric multiple units operated by Statens Järnvägar (SJ) of Sweden as express trains. Twenty-three were built by Hilding Carlssons Mekaniska Verkstad between 1960–1963 and were in service with SJ until 1999. The s ...

multiple units and later SJ F locomotives. From the 1980s, the line was served by the

SJ Rc The Rc class is the most used electric locomotive in Sweden. Rc is a universal locomotive used both in freight and passenger trains. The largest operator is Green Cargo, although SJ, Tågab, Hector Rail and the Swedish Transport Administrati ...

locomotives. The section from Gothenburg to Borås has additional local traffic. SJ X7 multiple units were used from the 1960s, and from the 1990s SJ X11,

SJ X12 The X12 is a series of two-car electric multiple units operated by Statens Järnvägar (SJ) of Sweden as local trains. Eighteen units were built by Asea Brown Boveri ABB Ltd. is a Swedish-Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Z� ...

, SJ X14 and SJ X53 units have been introduced. In 1990 the section was upgraded and all traffic halted for three months. In 1994, the brand "Coast-to-Coast" was introduced and

SJ X2 X 2000, also called SJ X2 or simply as X2, is an electric tilting train operated by SJ in Sweden. It was constructed by Kalmar Verkstad in Kalmar, Sweden (prior to the company being bought by Adtranz in 1996) and launched in 1990 as a ...

high-speed trains were introduced. They remained in service until 2002, when Oresundtrains were introduced. In 2007, Regina multiple units were introduced, and then again Rc-hauled trains from 2009. Between 2010 and 2013, the Swedish Transport Administration upgraded the section from Emmaboda to Karlskrona, with the goal to reduce travel time from 40 to 33 minutes. The line was out of use from December 2011 to June 2013, with all work being completed in 2014. The upgrades included continuous welded rails,

centralized traffic control Centralized traffic control (CTC) is a form of railway signalling that originated in North America. CTC consolidates train routing decisions that were previously carried out by local signal operators or the train crews themselves. The system con ...

, a new

catenary In physics and geometry, a catenary (, ) is the curve that an idealized hanging chain or cable assumes under its own weight when supported only at its ends in a uniform gravitational field. The catenary curve has a U-like shape, superfici ...

system, new

passing loop A passing loop (UK usage) or passing siding (North America) (also called a crossing loop, crossing place, refuge loop or, colloquially, a hole) is a place on a single line railway or tramway, often located at or near a station, where trains or ...

s at Gullberna and Vissefjärda, upgrade of the passing loops at Spjutsbygd and Holmsjö, new platforms at Holmsjö Station, speeds up to , 40

level crossings A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an overpass or tunnel. The term als ...

removed, 8 new tunnels and bridges, new track layout and signaling system at Emmaboda, and a rebuilt Karlskrona Station. The project cost 950 million

Swedish krona The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it ...

(SEK).

Future

There are plans to build a new railway on the section between Gothenburg and Borås. This new railway is planned to have a very high standard, prepared for up to 320 km/h. It is planned to be a part of a future high speed railway between Gothenburg and Stockholm, called

Götalandsbanan Götalandsbanan (the Gothia line) is a planned high-speed railway planned to be built between Södertälje and Gothenburg in Sweden, past Linköping and Jönköping. The planned length is about . The speed is planned to be . It will, if built, ...

. The first part will be between Mölnlycke and Bollebygd including a tunnel station directly under the Göteborg Landvetter Airport. This project will allow 2-3 trains per hour and direction, compared with 1 train today. This project has a detailed construction plan, and construction was decided to begin 2016. However this project has been put on hold, because of political hesitation over the high speed railway project.

References

External links

{{commons category, Kust till kustbanan
Time table, select table number 96 and 97
Railway lines in Sweden