Arlanda Express
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Arlanda Express is an
airport rail link An airport rail link is a service providing passenger rail transport between an airport and a nearby city. Direct links operate straight from the airport terminal to the city, while other links require an intermediate use of a people mover or ...
connecting
Stockholm Central Station Stockholm Central Station (), is the main Train station, railway station in Stockholm, and largest railway station in Sweden in terms of passenger numbers and train traffic. It is located in the Norrmalm district of central Stockholm on Vasagat ...
with the Stockholm Arlanda Airport, located outside
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 ...
,
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 ...
. Operated by A-Train AB, the trip takes 18 minutes and runs three to six times per hour using seven X3
electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
s. The services operate over the East Coast and Arlanda Lines calling at Stockholm Central, Arlanda North and Arlanda South stations. The service was used by 2.7 million passengers in 2007 and by 3.3 million passengers in 2012. Planning of the airport link started in the 1980s. In 1993 the
Government of Sweden The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister and their ...
issued a tender for a
public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sectors, private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Revie ...
(PPP) to build the Arlanda Line. The construction of the line was subsidized with a combination of some state grants and large state loans. The successful tenderer would receive a
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
on traffic between the airport and Stockholm until 2040. The line and the services were inaugurated on 25 November 1999. The PPP contract has since been criticized for being unclear, uneconomical for the state and leading to a low utilization of the service as ticket prices are very expensive at 340 SEK (around 30 EUR) for an adult single ticket on the very short journey. The railroad is owned by two Australian
pension fund A pension fund, also known as a superannuation fund in some countries, is any program, fund, or scheme which provides pension, retirement income. The U.S. Government's Social Security Trust Fund, which oversees $2.57 trillion in assets, is the ...
s and partly (37.5%) by the Gingko Tree Investment Ltd, a subsidiary of Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange.


Service

The Arlanda Express connects the city center of Stockholm, at Stockholm Central, to Stockholm Arlanda Airport. At the airport, the train serves two stations: Arlanda South, which serves terminals 2, 3 and 4, and Arlanda North, which serves terminal 5. From Stockholm to Rosersberg, the train follows the East Coast Line, and from there to the airport, the Arlanda Line. The train operates from three times an hour to six times per hour during
rush hour A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...
. , the standard price for a one-way ticket is SEK 340, although discounts are offered for children, students, seniors, on special travel days and for return trips under certain conditions. The Arlanda Express is operated by A-Train, which also built the Arlanda Line as part of a public–private partnership. The company holds an exclusive concession to operate any train service between Stockholm and the airport. In addition, the company is free to charge other train operators that use the Arlanda Line and stop at Arlanda Central Station.


Rolling stock

The Arlanda Express is operated by seven four-car X3
electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...
s. The units were built by
Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
's Washwood Heath plant in 1998 and 1999. The train consists of two powered end units and two non-powered center cars. The trains have a maximum speed of 200 km/h (125 mph) and a maximum power output of . They are long and weigh . Each car has two doors on each side, and the train has seating for 190 passengers. There is a baggage area beside each door, seating for people with a disability and a toilet in the middle of the train. The Arlanda Express' three stations have a special platform height that allows level access to the trains from the platforms. In 2006, the trains were renovated and received new interiors in three different color schemes, green, orange and blue, designed by the former Swedish tennis player
Björn Borg Björn Rune Borg (; born 6 June 1956) is a Swedish former professional tennis player. He was ranked as the world No. 1 in men's singles by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) for 109 weeks. Borg won 66 singles titles during his caree ...
's eponymous fashion label.


History

Plans for an airport rail link connecting the central business district of Stockholm with the airport were launched in the early 1980s. The goal was to reduce road congestion and emissions while allowing Arlanda to keep increasing passenger numbers. The
Swedish Rail Administration The Swedish National Rail Administration () was a Swedish state administrative authority which acted as owner on behalf of the State and maintained virtually all main railway lines in Sweden; except for short sidings for freight, heritage railwa ...
made a specific plan in the late 1980s which involved the construction of a branch from the existing East Coast Line. This resulted in a project plan which was launched in 1990, which specifically suggested Rosersberg and Odensala as the intersections with the existing line. The political decision to build the line was taken in 1993. Estimates at the time projected a ridership of 5.1 million passengers per year by 2005. The Swedish Rail Administration had proposed that the line was to be built with the government agency as owner and with either SJ or private railway companies as train operators. However, the Cabinet of Carl Bildt wanted private sector involvement in the construction and operation of the line. In 1993, the Government put in place a public tender to build and operate the line. In 1994, Arlanda Link Consortium was chosen, consisting of the Nordic Construction Company, ,
Vattenfall Vattenfall is a Swedish multinational corporation, multinational electrical power industry, power company owned by the List of government enterprises of Sweden, Swedish state. Beyond Sweden, the company generates power in Denmark, Finland, Germa ...
, GEC-Alsthom and
Mowlem Mowlem was one of the largest construction and civil engineering companies in the United Kingdom. The company was established as ''John Mowlem and Co.'' by John Mowlem and initially worked on behalf of various local authorities across London ...
. A-Banan Projekt AB was established as a
limited company In a limited company, the Legal liability, liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a c ...
in 1994 to oversee the project. The consortium established A-Train AB to be the project developer and then operate the Arlanda Express until 2040. The legal responsibility for the project was transferred from the consortium to A-Train in 1995. As part of the agreement, A-Train received from the Swedish Government 850 million
Swedish krona The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the currency of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it but, espec ...
(SEK) in a grant and SEK 1 billion in a loan to help finance the project. The company was also allowed to operate a shuttle service from Stockholm C to Arlanda and charge a non-discriminating fee for all other trains using the line. Total investment costs for the project were SEK 6 billion, of which SEK 2 billion was financed through state grants to the Swedish Rail Administration who built the quadruple track along the East Coast Line. The public–private partnership part of the project involved two new tracks at Stockholm C and the Arlanda Line, costing SEK 4.1 billion. Of this, SEK 2.4 billion was financed by the state. In addition, the state held a financial guarantee to
Nordea Nordea Bank Abp, commonly referred to as Nordea, is a Nordic financial services group operating in northern Europe with headquarters in Helsinki, Finland. The name is a blend of the words "Nordic" and "idea". The Nordic countries are considered ...
for the X3 trains, should A-Train fail to meets its financial obligations to the bank. A-Train was also granted an interest-free deferral on the payment of the fees at Stockholm C and Arlanda, costing the state SEK 90 million. Of A-Train's capital loan for SEK 2.2 billion, SEK 1.8 billion was borrowed from three state-owned financial institutions: the
Swedish National Debt Office The Swedish National Debt Office ( or shortly ''Riksgälden'') was founded by Gustav III at the Riksdag of the Estates in 1789, through the Act of union and security. It is a Swedish Government agencies in Sweden, Government agency. The first task ...
, the Swedish Export Credit Corporation and the Nordic Investment Bank. In addition, 20% of the share capital was secured through Vattenfall's equity in the company. The Arlanda Line and the Arlanda Express started operations on 25 November 1999. After the construction was completed, the ownership of the infrastructure was transferred to A-Banan Projekt. However, A-Train is responsible for paying for all maintenance and operating costs of the line. In 2004, A-Train was bought by
Macquarie Group Macquarie Group Limited (), more commonly known as Macquarie Bank, is an Australian multinational investment banking and financial services group headquartered in Sydney and listed on the ASX (). Macquarie's investment banking division is Au ...
, who paid SEK 70 million for the company, in addition to taking over debt worth SEK 330 million. In 2004, the Swedish National Audit Office criticized the process of building and financing the Arlanda Line, and stated that the State had taken more financial risk than the
Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...
had been informed about. It also criticized the
Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
for giving additional financial support to A-Train in the form of guarantees without informing the Riksdag, and having an unclear management strategy. It also commented that the traffic forecasts during planning were incorrect. The original plans showed an economic benefit of SEK 4 billion. However, because A-Train is free to set its ticket prices as it wishes, the high prices resulted in too few passengers taking the Arlanda Line for it to be of economic benefit to the Swedish community, and the line failed to maximise its economic impact through reduced road congestion and emissions. In a motion passed by the
Riksdag The Riksdag ( , ; also or , ) is the parliament and the parliamentary sovereignty, supreme decision-making body of the Kingdom of Sweden. Since 1971, the Riksdag has been a unicameral parliament with 349 members (), elected proportional rep ...
on the 7 October 2008, the Arlanda Line Agreement was unanimously criticized and characterized as the "worst possible agreement Arlanda could have". A-Train is free to set whatever fees its sees fit on the line, both regarding their own ticket prices on the Arlanda Express and what fees it charges other train operators. This framework had resulted in a significant rise in ticket prices and results in a low levels of public transport use for ground transportation to the airport. The Swedish State holds an option to purchase the traffic rights from A-Train in 2010, which would eliminate the fees and allow other operators to run directly from the airport to the city center. As of 2008, the train had a 9% market share for employees and a 25% market share for passengers traveling to the airport. Commentators and politicians have stated that the business model results in a low utilization of the line because of the high ticket prices, which has caused the airport to not reach its targeted emission goals. The CEO of A-Train, Per Thorstensson, stated that it would be a waste of tax payers' money to purchase the line in 2010, as the state would receive the line free of charge in 2040. Originally A-Train was required to accumulate capital of SEK 600 million before it could pay
dividend A dividend is a distribution of profits by a corporation to its shareholders, after which the stock exchange decreases the price of the stock by the dividend to remove volatility. The market has no control over the stock price on open on the ex ...
s, but this was changed to SEK 150 million in 2008, after an agreement was made with Arlandabanan Infrastructure. In 2014, Macquarie sold A-Train to STC Pooled Fund,
Sunsuper Sunsuper Superannuation Fund (Sunsuper) was an Australian public offer industry superannuation fund based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1987 as a multi-industry superannuation fund open to all workers and is prof ...
, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.


Accidents and incidents

At 4:35 am on 27 May 2023, Arlanda Express train 7900 travelling from Stockholm to Arlanda with 69 people on board, including 67 passengers, derailed near the A-Train depot at Blackvreten, east of Märsta. The train was travelling at 178 km/h when a
welding joint In metalworking, a welding joint is a point or edge where two or more pieces of metal or plastic are joined together. They are formed by welding two or more workpieces according to a particular geometry. There are five types of joints referred t ...
in the movable crossing of a
switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type o ...
ruptured due to welding defects and fatigue cracks. The second to the fourth carriages of the train derailed and came to a stop after about 900 m. One passenger was seriously injured. Following the accident, all rail services to Arlanda Airport were suspended until repairs could be made.


See also

* History of rail transport in Sweden * Public transport in Stockholm * Rail transport in Sweden


References


External links

* {{Authority control Airport rail links Arlanda Line Railway companies of Sweden Railway services introduced in 1999 Rail transport in Stockholm 1999 establishments in Sweden 1990s establishments in Stockholm County