The Gothenburg tramway network () is part of the public transport system organised by Göteborgs Spårvägar, controlled by
Västtrafik
Västtrafik is the agency responsible for public transport services involving buses, ferries, trains, and the Gothenburg tram network in the county of Västra Götaland, and Kungsbacka Municipality in Sweden. It was established with the Västra ...
in the Swedish city of
Gothenburg
Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
. The system's approximately of single track — making it the largest tram network in Northern Europe
— is used by around 200 trams , which serve twelve day-time and five night-time lines with a combined
line length
In typography, line length is the width of a block of typeset text, usually measured in units of length like inches or points or in characters per line (in which case it is a measure). A block of text or paragraph has a maximum line length tha ...
of 190 km. These figures are expected to increase when the second stage of ''Kringen'' (short for ''Kollektivringen'', the public transport ring) is finished. The trams perform about 2,000 trips and cover 30,000 km per day. In 2018, 131 million journeys were made (with changes counting as a new journey).
History
The first tram line in Gothenburg was started in 1879 by the
English company Gothenburg Tramway Ltd. This was a horse-drawn tramway, which stretched from
Brunnsparken to
Stigbergsliden. The city of Gothenburg bought the tramway in 1900, and introduced electrically powered trams only two years later when
Sigfrid Edström
Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace".
The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...
led the electrification of the trams. During the next 40 years, the tram system was heavily expanded, reaching outside the city borders by 1907, and
Hisingen
Hisingen () is the fifth-largest island of Sweden (after Gotland, Öland, Södertörn and Orust), with an area of . It is a river island, formed by the split of the Göta Älv at Bohus Fortress, Bohus, and is defined to the east and south by t ...
in 1940.
In the 1960s, plans for converting the tram system to an
underground rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separated rapid transit line below ground surface through a tu ...
system were created, and the new tram sections to the
Tynnered,
Angered
Angered ( ) is a Boroughs and districts of Gothenburg, borough of Gothenburg Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. Angered is the biggest Million Programme area in Gothenburg, and one of the biggest in the country, with 60,000 inha ...
,
Bergsjön
Bergsjön is a district in eastern Gothenburg, Sweden. On January 1, 2011, Bergsjön and Kortedala became the Eastern District of Gothenburg as part of a larger reorganization of the city of Gothenburg; the number of district councils was halved ...
and
Länsmansgården suburbs were built free from level crossings and partly in tunnels to make a future conversion to underground standards easier. However, after further investigation, it was concluded that it would be too expensive to dig the necessary tunnels under the city centre, as the foundation of the city is partially made up of clay.

When Sweden's
switch to right-hand traffic in 1967 made existing unidirectional trams obsolete, Gothenburg was one of only two cities in Sweden to maintain its city-centre tramway, the other such network to survive being the
Norrköping tramway
Norrköping ( , ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Östergötland in eastern Sweden and the seat of Norrköping Municipality, Östergötland County, about 160 km southwest of the national capital Stoc ...
.
The expansion of the net through the ''Kringen'' is gradually creating a tramway ring around the city centre. In 1999 the first step was started, which most notably included the 1,050 m long
Chalmers tunnel which was opened for traffic in 2002, connecting the
Chalmers station with the
Korsvägen
Korsvägen (literary ”the cross road”) is a public square and transport hub in the events district of Gothenburg, Sweden. Many important event venues and visitor attractions are located on or near Korsvägen, including the Swedish Exhibition ...
hub. The second and third steps are currently in the planning stage.
Since 2010, the previously used
magnetic stripe card
The term digital card can refer to a physical item, such as a memory card on a camera, or, increasingly since 2017, to the digital content hosted
as a virtual card or cloud card, as a digital virtual representation of a physical card. They shar ...
s have been replaced with
RFID
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder called a tag, a radio receiver, and a transmitter. When tri ...
cards.
Ticket machine
A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instance, ...
s taking coins and credit cards have also been installed on the trams, along with a text message system where tickets may be purchased with mobile phones. From about 2019, a phone app has become the leading mode of ticket purchase.
Lines
Most tram lines pass through
Brunnsparken, which is effectively the central hub of public transport in Gothenburg. The exceptions are lines 8 and 14. The
Central Station
Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...
is also a major stop, especially because it is the nearest stop not only for train passengers but also passengers coming from the neighbouring
Nils Ericson Terminal
The Nils Ericson Terminal is a major bus terminus in Gothenburg, Sweden built in 1995. It is adjacent to and interconnected with Gothenburg Central Station and will be joined to the upcoming Centralen station via the ''Gothenburg Grand Central ...
, where
coaches
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Coac ...
, airport buses to
Landvetter Airport and
City Airport (not being used for public passenger travel, but remains open for flying schools) and regional buses stop.
Korsvägen
Korsvägen (literary ”the cross road”) is a public square and transport hub in the events district of Gothenburg, Sweden. Many important event venues and visitor attractions are located on or near Korsvägen, including the Swedish Exhibition ...
is another major stop, where lines 6 and 8 meet lines going into the city centre and out to
Mölndal
Mölndal () is the seat and administrative centre of Mölndal Municipality and a part of the Gothenburg urban area on the west coast of Sweden. About 40,000 of the municipality's 60,000 inhabitants live in Mölndal proper.
Geography
Mölndal is l ...
. Most tram lines are on the south side of the river, but lines 5, 6, 10 and 14 cross
Hisingsbron
Hisingsbron (the Hisingen Bridge) is a vertical-lift bridge in central Gothenburg, Sweden, connecting the island of Hisingen to the mainland. The bridge was constructed between 2017 and 2021, replacing the Götaälvbro, and was inaugurated on 5 Se ...
to the north side.
Rolling stock
The types of tramcars currently running in Gothenburg are:
*
M28, ASJL 1965–1967, 701–711, 713–763, 766, 767 (M28 was permanently decommissioned for safety reasons on 28 October 2021)
*
M29,
Hägglund 1969–1972, 801–838, 840–857, 859, 860
* (previously M21
ASEA
''Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget'' ( English translation: General Swedish Electrical Limited Company; Swedish abbreviation: ASEA) was a Swedish industrial company.
History
ASEA was founded in 1883 by Ludvig Fredholm in Västerås ...
1984–1992, rebuilt with low-floor middle articulation), ASEA/MGB 1998–2003, 300–305, 307-380
*
M32 Sirio Sirio may refer to:
* ''Sirio'' (album), 2022 album by Lazza
* Sirio Carrapa (born 1952), Italian mystic
* Sirio Maccioni (1932–2020), restaurateur and author based in New York City
* , a Maltese and Panamanian train ferry
* , an Italian immig ...
,
AnsaldoBreda
Hitachi Rail Italy S.p.A. is a multinational rolling stock manufacturer company based in Pistoia, Italy. Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica, the company was sold in 2015 to Hitachi Rail of Japan. After the dea ...
2005–2013, (as of January 2016) 401–465
* M33
Flexity Classic
The Bombardier Flexity Classic is a model of light-rail tram manufactured by Bombardier Transportation (now merged into Alstom). Although it is marketed as the most traditionally designed member of the Flexity family, it is still a modern bi-d ...
,
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 ...
2019–,
* M34 Flexity Classic, Alstom 2023–, (M34 is a longer version of M33)
In 2013 work with deciding new tram stocks began. By April 2016, it was announced that a minimum 40 trams of the new model M33 had been ordered from Bombardier Transportation Sweden AB/Vossloh Kiepe GmbH for delivery by year 2019. In 2022, Västtrafik ordered 40 more trams of the same model, an order that was later expanded to 60, to be designated M34. They were first put in service on 19 January 2025. When all M33 and M34 trams are delivered in 2026, the old M29 trams still in service will be decommissioned.
There is a fleet of heritage trams used in the network. One of the oldest trams,
M1 15, which was built in 1902, is preserved in operational condition.
See also
*
List of Gothenburg tram stations
Notes
References
*
External links
Official webite
Official network map (Västtrafik)
Track plan of the Gothenburg tram system
{{Urban public transport in Sweden
Articles containing video clips
Light rail in Sweden
Town tramway systems by city
1879 establishments in Sweden
1879 in rail transport
19th-century establishments in Gothenburg and Bohus County