The Stockholm City Line () is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

beneath central

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 ...

which is used by the

Stockholm commuter rail Stockholm commuter rail () is the commuter rail system in Stockholm County, Sweden. The system is an important part of the public transport in Stockholm, and is controlled by Storstockholms Lokaltrafik. The tracks are state-owned and administere ...

. The line is long,

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most li ...

and electrified. It has two stations: Stockholm City station, which is connected to

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 ...

and located directly below T-Centralen metro station; and Stockholm Odenplan station which is also served by the Green Line of the Metro. The line and its stations opened on 10 July 2017.

Route and stations

From north to south, the tunnel begins at Tomteboda, where it branches off from the East Coast Line (). It then runs under Vasastan, passing through Stockholm Odenplan station, and continues under Norrmalm to Stockholm City station. From there, it runs beneath the

Norrström Norrström is one of the shortest rivers in Europe in central Stockholm. It connects Lake Mälaren with the Baltic Sea. It runs from Riddarfjärden, north of Gamla stan, to Stockholms ström (the western part of Saltsjön). Two islands lie with ...

waterway, beneath the island of

Riddarholmen Riddarholmen (, "The Knights' Islet") is a small islet in central Stockholm, Sweden. The island forms part of Gamla Stan, the old town, and houses a number of private palaces dating back to the 17th century. The main landmark is the church Riddarh ...

, and then under lake Mälaren at Riddarfjärden. The tunnel then reaches

Södermalm Södermalm, often shortened to just Söder, is the southern district of Stockholm City Centre. Overview The Södermalm district covers the island of the same name (formerly called ''Åsön''), which, however, is not fully separated from th ...

, where it joins the Western Main Line () at Stockholm Södra Station.

Stations

* Stockholm Odenplan station – Located beneath Odenplan in Vasastan, this station is integrated with the existing Odenplan metro station, which opened in 1952. It provides connections to Stockholm’s Green Line and local bus services. The station has one island platform with two tracks, and uses

platform screen doors Platform screen doors (PSDs), also known as platform edge doors (PEDs), are used at some train, rapid transit and people mover stations to separate the platform from train tracks, as well as on some bus rapid transit, tram and light rail ...

. Upon opening, the commuter train station replaced the former Karlberg station. File:Odenplan, pendeltåg, 20230423, bild 13.jpg, Platform File:Odenplan augusti 2016 bild 1.jpg, Entrance building File:Stockholm Odenplan, pendeltåg, interiör, 20220219 - bild 1.jpg, Walkway File:Odenplan, pendeltåg, 20230423, bild 11.jpg, Escalators to platform * Stockholm City station – Located beneath T-Centralen and connected to Stockholm Central Station, this station serves as part of the primary interchange for Stockholm's commuter trains, metro lines, and long-distance rail services. The station has two island platforms with four tracks, and uses

. Upon opening, Stockholm City station took over all SL commuter train operations from the adjacent Stockholm Central Station. File:Stockholm City railway station 2022-12.jpg, Platform File:Stockholm City, pendeltåg, skyltar 20220730.jpg, Information screens File:Stockholm City - 20230903.jpg, Walkway File:Stockholm City - 20240331 - 01.jpg, Escalators to platform

Background

The tunnel improves the traffic throughput to and from south of Stockholm as there are only two tracks in that direction from

, the same number that were in place in 1871 when the railway was originally built. It has 24 scheduled trains per hour in each direction. The commuter trains pass Stockholm with up to 16 trains per hour per direction. The other eight are regional and long-distance trains. The tunnel takes all commuter trains, allowing more regional and intercity trains to operate along the old line. Placing the commuter rail traffic into a tunnel of its own thus allows increased capacity for other national rail traffic through Central Station via Centralbron. The entire system for long-distance passenger railways in Sweden suffers from this bottleneck, since 80% of train rides in Sweden start or stop in Stockhol

As a result, there is no room to increase the frequency of commuter, regional, and long-distance trains despite their heavy usage.

History

as part of the Stockholm City Line." The project was proposed by the Swedish State Railways in 1988 and, after initially being disregarded as too expensive, was seriously considered again from 2002. In 2006, 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 ...

agreed with the city and

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik Storstockholms Lokaltrafik known as SL, () is the public transport organisation responsible for managing land-based public transport in Stockholm County, Sweden. SL oversees a network that includes the Stockholm Metro, ''Tunnelbana'' metro, Stock ...

on the financing of the project, and the last step in the planning process was scheduled for 2006–2007. The cost of the tunnel and stations was estimated at 16.3 billion

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; currency sign, sign: kr; ISO 4217, 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 usual ...

. After the general elections of 2006, the new Alliance government called the project into question. Representatives of the government announced on October 1 of that year that they were scrapping Citybanan in favor of building a third railway track through the city. In December 2006, however, the government's appointed expert, recommended building the tunnel following a renewed assessment of the project. In May 2007 the government finally decided to build the tunnel. In September 2014 the tunnel reached its full length. Coordinates: *Southern tunnel portal: *Northern tunnel portal:

References

External links

Swedish Transport Administration – The Stockholm City LineDagens Nyheter – Citybanan börjar byggas i sommar
{{in lang, sv Railway lines in Sweden Railway lines opened in 2017 Rail transport in Stockholm Underground commuter rail 2017 establishments in Sweden 21st-century establishments in Stockholm