Rail and bus travel in Sweden

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Sweden has an extensive railway network. Long-distance lines are operated by the government-owned company SJ AB, or by private enterprises. Regional public transportation, both by rail and bus, is provided by the counties, län, or associations of those. There are also some commercial bus services. The transport carriers in Sweden operate a ticket platform called Resplus for multiple-leg travel. See Resrobot for an interactive journey planner.

A note on planning your travel: if you are using Google Maps to find train connections and build an itinerary, this can work very well if you are doing it weeks or months ahead of time. If you are close to the day of travel, or you are on the ground, you may find that you have more data than Google and it can sometimes be wrong. Or Google Maps may not offer you the best connection points when there are multiple stations at which you can make the connection. Double check your plan with staff at a station, if you are booking within a few days of travel.

National rail carriers

The X40 train, used on many regional routes, has an upper deck, which gives a good view of the Swedish scenery.

While rail travel is deregulated in Sweden, national carrier SJ remains the market leader. While rail speed is far behind countries such as France and Germany, rail is a good option for intercity travel.

Many routes connect to Copenhagen and Oslo, and some to Trondheim, Narvik and Berlin. Railways in Finland have a broader track gauge, and are therefore not connected to the Swedish rail network. Furthermore, most of the area where Sweden and Finland share a land border is extremely sparsely populated. There is a double gauge railway at the border in Haparanda/Tornio but no passenger trains uses it.

Tickets can be bought either through Resplus or directly from the specific carrier, and are normally reserved for one train departure. Regional public transport tickets might be used for any regional public train departure within a given time, but those tickets are normally not valid on national rail carrier trains.

SJ

To buy a railway ticket from SJ, or to obtain information, phone +46 771 75 75 75 or check their website. As of summer 2009, the cheapest SJ tickets are released exactly 90 days before departure, so time your online ticket purchases carefully if your itinerary is set and don't buy tickets earlier than 90 days before your trip. Because point-to-point tickets are quite expensive, for more train journeys in Sweden InterRail (for European residents) or Eurail (for non-European residents) pass might be useful. Unlike most European countries, however, bicycles are not allowed on any trains, except for foldable bicycles, which count as regular luggage. If you are travelling to small towns in Sweden and you need to journey long distances from there, do not leave your tickets unbooked until the last minute. The busy trains that would offer you fast travel and better connections can get sold out during the summer - sometimes, a few days in advance. If these trains are sold out, then you can't buy tickets to them online or in person at the counter.

There are sleeper train services between Stockholm and Malmö as well as between Gothenburg, Stockholm and the northern parts of Norrland. Notice that during winter, these night trains can be delayed several hours due to bad weather.

VR

VR (Formerly MTR Express) is a fast train between Stockholm and Gothenburg, with seasonal service to Halland and Skåne. Tickets are sold only on https://www.vrresa.se (no machines or other web pages). They serve food on board.

Snälltåget

Snälltåget (brand name operated by Transdev, formerly Veolia) operates some rail lines; from Malmö to Berlin, Stockholm and Åre (during ski season, from December to April).

Norrtåg

  • Norrtåg, meaning "North Train" in Swedish, is a local rail carrier in Norrland.

Flixtrain

A subsidiary of the German Flixbus, the first non- German Flixtrain runs from Stockholm to Gothenburg. Tickets run between $15 and $35 depending on how early you book the tickets.

Famous rail lines

Regional public transportation

Regional public transport can include commuter rail, tram, metro (in Stockholm), bus or boat (in the Swedish archipelagos), and is usually provided by the counties (län), under the brand name of the county owned traffic company.

Tickets are normally sold by the county owned traffic company. Ticket rules vary substantially. For regional trains it is normally possible to buy a ticket through SJ (see below) even if it is a county operated train. Note that, depending on how small the town is, there may not be staff at a train station to sell you the tickets. Look for an automated machine in this case, that will walk you through the booking process. These are usually found in enclosed glass buildings that can often be mistaken for a bus stop (but they will be on the platform).

Unlike SJ trains, it is not uncommon on regional trains for the announcements to be made in Swedish alone. Rail carriages do have a small LED display that shows which station is next and which may contain other information as well. Pay attention to the Swedish announcements to see if it sounds like you may be impacted. Strike up a conversation with your fellow passengers or a passing by train conductor to find out more. It is rare that you will find a Swede who doesn't speak English at some level.

There should be more information in the articles about the regions in Sweden.

More information South, Central ...

For instance, when travelling regionally in the province of Scania (Skåne in Swedish), one should refer to Skånetrafiken.

Tickets

City and county buses are part of the county's public transit system. Check out the local arrangements for how to obtain tickets. In many Swedish cities it is not possible to buy tickets for the city buses at the bus. In this case neither cash nor bank or credit cards are accepted. Instead you need an electronic bus card, a special card for each region, that sometimes also has to be filled with a minimum amount of money, typically 100 SEK. This bus card can sometimes be obtained only at dedicated ticket offices, not at the bus, but can often be filled with money for travel at local shops or refill machines that are found at public places.

This observation does not apply to countryside and long distance buses, where you normally can buy tickets from the driver.

For trams, there are (Gothenburg/Norrköping) normally machines onboard or (Stockholm) salesperson onboard. For Stockholm metro and commuter trains, tickets are sold at the station entrances.

In general, tourists are advised to buy one-day or multi-day passes which give free access to local public traffic.

Urban rail

Stockholm has a metro line known for its art; see Stockholm County#Stockholm Metro, as well as light rail lines in some suburbs.

Gothenburg and Norrköping are known for their iconic trams.

Commercial buses

See also: Intercity buses in Europe

Flixbus and Nettbuss run a number of bus lines in the southern third of the country, Götaland and Svealand. They tend to cost less than going by train, if you can't take advantage of SJ's youth discounts. Y-buss, Härjedalingen and Tapanis Buss operate between Stockholm and Norrland.

Flixbus also operates from Stockholm and Gothenburg to Oslo. At the county level, buses are a good method for travelling short distances from town to town, as they are more frequent and cheaper than trains. It is best to check with the local transportation authority for routes and schedules.

Flygbussarna

Flygbussarna, Airport Coaches, are a private enterprise specializing in transfer between airports (or ferry terminals) and city centres.

See also

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