Swedish Railway Timeline

Welcome on a journey through the history of the Swedish railways. The timeline looks at both small and big events through time. Events that in one way or other have had an impact. Together with the museum's collection, knowledge and research, we hope to bring them to life and create an understanding of life on and around the tracks. Time for departure, mind the gap, please take your seat, and close the doors!

Navvies pause a trail construction in snow with a few houses in the background.

1856

Railway inauguration
Sweden gets its very first public railway.
A sketch of a carved mountain landscape that leads into a railway tunnel.

1860

First railway tunnel
The first railway tunnel was built by prisoners.
Magnificent train hall from the front with locomotives and wagons parked on tracks that go towards the camera.

1862

Western Main Line opens
King XV is passenger on board
A woman sitting at a desk with a telephone. Picture is from the year 1890.

1867

SJ hires a woman
Julia Hammar is hired as an operator in 1867.
An old photograph taken from the scene of the accident.

1875

The Lagerlunda accident
In 1875, two trains end up on the same track.
A so-called Time Difference Table that shows how many minutes you need to add for each railway station to get local time.

1879

Railway time ends
Sweden first with one time for the entire country
A black and white photo from 1945 with male workers standing on top of a train carriage working with electric wires.

1890

First electrified railway
Electrification is introduced on railways.
Interior of an older restaurant trolley, tables set with white tablecloths and folded napkins. On each table is a pot of hyacinth.

1894

First restaurant carriage
Exclusive dining on the move in 1894
Demolished locomotives and carriages lie on their sides below the collapsed embankment.

1918

The Getå accident
One of Sweden's worst railway accidents.
Platform with people between two parked trains.

1938

The railway’s largest extension
The railway in Sweden reaches its largest size.
A man screws in a sign with SJ on the train carriage exterior.

1939

Nationalisation and largest expansion
Swedish railways are nationalised
A demolished train carriage after fire and explosions in the yard at Krylbo railway station.

1941

The Krylbo explosion
Sabotage is suspected
A black and white photo of a worker taking down a railway boom and signals on the Öland Railway.

1950-tal

Streamlining and competition
Rail travel and freight handling decline.
White station building with surrounding buildings without railway tracks. White station building with surrounding buildings without railway tracks. Sågmyra railway station, the station is closed and the tracks are torn up

1963

Closure and reorganisation
Savings and closure of unprofitable tracks
Female conductor in the driver's cab.

1972

First female train driver
She started out as a ticketing officer in 1970.
A sterile control room with two men in office clothes sitting at a large table and working over the phone.

1980

Automatic Train Control
The security system ATC is widely spread.
The front cover of SJ News from 1988 with the headline SJ is divided.

1988

SJ is divided – New SJ and Banverket
SJ manages traffic and Banverket infrastructure
Locomotives in line, evening, shining lights and longer shutter speeds that give speed strokes in the picture.

1990

X 2000
High-speed train tested since the 1960s
A red-and-black tanker sails under the middle section of the Öresund Bridge in dark water with wind turbines strewn in the background

2000

The Öresund Bridge opens
The Swedish railway becomes international.
trafikverkets, The Swedish Transport Administration's motor vehicle rolls forward in an autumn landscape with some trees that have turned yellow leaves.

2010

The Swedish Transport Administration
Two authorities for rail and road are replaced

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