Snälltåget is an

open-access Open access (OA) is a set of principles and a range of practices through which nominally copyrightable publications are delivered to readers free of access charges or other barriers. With open access strictly defined (according to the 2001 de ...

railway company in Sweden with long-distance trains along the

Southern Main Line The Southern Main Line () is a long standard gauge electrified railway between Malmö and Katrineholm in Sweden. The trains continue further on to Stockholm Central Station along the Western Main Line and terminate there (at platforms 16–19). ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

from

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

as well as

sleeper train The sleeping car or sleeper (often ) is a railway passenger car that can accommodate all passengers in beds of one kind or another, for the purpose of sleeping. George Pullman was the main American innovator and owner of sleeper cars in the lat ...

s between Stockholm and

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and Malmö to the ski and hiking resorts in

Jämtland Jämtland () is a historical provinces of Sweden, province () in the centre of Sweden in northern Europe. It borders Härjedalen and Medelpad to the south, Ångermanland to the east, Lapland, Sweden, Lapland to the north and Trøndelag and Norw ...

county.

History

Snälltåget was set up in 2006 (first departure January 31, 2007) as Veolia Transport after partial deregulation of the Swedish rail network running ad hoc services. Regular weekend services began in 2009 (expanding to weekdays in 2010), after the network was fully deregulated, running in direct competition with the state-owned operator SJ. The summer night train extension to Berlin was launched in 2012 with the network rebranding as Snälltåget in November 2013. From September 2016, a brand new fleet of Class 193 ''Vectron'' locomotives were added to replace the hired commonly used

Hector Rail Hector Rail is a Sweden, Swedish-based independent train haulage provider. It operates in the European rail transport market and possesses its own rolling stock, including a fleet of 100 locomotives. The company provides both locomotives and driv ...

Class 242 ''Taurus'' and the Class 241 ''Traxx''. Together with coaches from Germany, they started operation at 200 km/h, the first time for locomotives and railcars in Sweden. Until 2019 it operated with train ferry via

Trelleborg Trelleborg () is a town in Skåne County, Sweden, with 43,359 inhabitants as of 31 December 2015. It is the southernmost town in Sweden located some west from the Smygehuk, southernmost point of Sweden and the Scandinavian Peninsula. It is one ...

Sassnitz Sassnitz (, before 1993 in ) is a town on the Jasmund peninsula, Rügen Island, in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. The population as of 2012 was 9,498. Sassnitz is a well-known seaside resort and port town, and is a gateway to th ...

. In 2020, this train and the ferry route was cancelled because of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. From June 2021 a modified night train over the

Great Belt Fixed Link The Great Belt Bridge () or Great Belt fixed link () is a multi-element fixed link crossing the Great Belt strait between the Danish islands of Zealand and Funen. It consists of a road suspension bridge and a railway tunnel between Zealand and ...

without ferry was launched, between Stockholm,

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

and Berlin. In November 2021, Snälltåget's parent company Transdev expressed its intention to sell the company. In January 2022, a new overnight service from Malmö to

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

via

Zell am See Zell am See is the administrative capital of the Zell am See District in the Austrian state of Salzburg (state), Salzburg. Located in the Kitzbühel Alps, the town is an important tourist destination due to its Ski resort, ski resorts and shorel ...

and other ski resorts in the Austrian

Central Eastern Alps The Central Eastern Alps (), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps () or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacent regions of Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy and Slovenia. South of them is ...

along the Salzburg-Tyrol Railway commenced. In April 2024 it was announced that one of the daily departures on the Stockholm-Malmö route would be extended to Copenhagen Central Station station via the Øresund Bridge during the summer, in addition to the Stockholm-Berlin night train which already made a stop at the Copenhagen Ørestad station.

Routes

Snälltåget operates four different routes: The main route is operated from

via

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

Eslöv Eslöv (;) is a town and the seat of Eslöv Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 19,598 inhabitants as of 2018. Eslöv is part of the Öresund Region, and the Malmö Metropolitan Area. History According to a map from 1717, Eslöv village ...

Hässleholm Hässleholm is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Hässleholm Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 18,500 inhabitants in 2011. Overview Hässleholm was gradually developed from 1860 in connection with the construction of the m ...

Alvesta Alvesta () is a locality and the seat of Alvesta Municipality in Kronoberg County, Sweden, with 8,017 inhabitants in the urban area in 2010. Alvesta is an important railway junction, joining the Stockholm–Malmö–Copenhagen railway wi ...

Nässjö Nässjö () is a locality and the seat of Nässjö Municipality, Jönköping County, Sweden with 31,782 inhabitants in 2024. History For many years, Nässjö was a rural village with agriculture as the dominant occupation. The turning point wa ...

Linköping Linköping ( , ) is a city in southern Sweden, with around 167,000 inhabitants as of 2024. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Chu ...

and

Norrköping Norrköping ( , ) is a city in the province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stockholm, 40 km east of county seat Lin ...

throughout the year. In hiking and skiing seasons, Snälltåget operates night trains between Malmö and

Storlien Storlien ��ˈstuːrˌliːənis a village and ski resort located in Åre municipality in Jämtland, Sweden, two kilometres from the Swedish-Norwegian border. The primary bases of the settlement are tourism and outdoor life – alpine skiing, sn ...

, via Stockholm and

Åre Åre () is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and one of the leading Scandinavian ski resorts situated in Åre Municipality, Jämtland County, Sweden with 3,200 inhabitants in 2018. It is, however, not the seat of the municipality, which is Järpe ...

. Between April and September, as well as on selected days during the rest of the year a night train also operates from

, via Copenhagen, Malmö, and

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

. In winter, a train runs weekly between Malmö and

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, via Salzburg and Zell am See, serving multiple stations with connections to Austrian ski resorts.

Owner

Snälltåget is owned by

Transdev Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020. Transdev was formed on 3 April 2011 via the merg ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snalltaget Railway companies established in 2006 Railway companies of Sweden Transdev Companies based in Malmö Swedish companies established in 2006

History

Routes

Owner

See also

Notes

References