Rail transport in Sweden

Rail transport in Sweden is a network of 10,912 kilometres (6,780 mi). The first railway line in Sweden was built in 1855. The major operator of passenger trains was the state-owned SJ. Today around 70% of all rail traffic is subsidised local and regional trains. They are run by the regional public transport authorities.Transportstyrelsen Resandeflöden på Sveriges järnvägsnät Analys av utbud och efterfrågan på tågresor (in Swedish TSJ  2019-2258. Website URL: https://www.transportstyrelsen.se/4978e1/globalassets/global/publikationer/marknadsovervakning/resandefloden-pa-sveriges-jarnvagsnat20190411.pdf Passenger traffic has increased significantly since 2000.Eurostat (2021) Statistics Modal split of passenger transport. Data from 2019. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/t2020_rk310/settings_1/table?lang=en In 2019 Sweden was number five in the world measured in passenger kilometres per person and number three in the European union. It was 8th in the world when measured by passenger share.

In 1988 the Swedish parliament  separated the ownership of rail infrastructure from train operations. Sweden was the first European country to do this.  They also opened the railway system to private train operators, including open-access operators, with competitive bidding for regional service contracts. 

In 2019, the Swedish railways were called 'the most deregulated railways in the world'.Söör, Johan (2019). Världens mest avreglerade järnväg. (In Swedish). URL: https://timbro.se/smedjan/varldens-mest-avreglerade-jarnvag/

Sweden is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Sweden is 74.

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