Opened in 1913, it is today a single-track, electrified standard gauge line 35 kilometres (22 mi) long.

[citation needed] Regular passenger service ended in 1983, by which time the road and ferry network along the coast had made it much easier to get to Gothenburg by automobile.

Curving gently between fields and hills roughly 300 metres (980 ft) west of the road, after 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) it runs immediately adjacent to the road through a narrow gap between hills, after which it crosses underneath the highway, paralleling it on its east to the station at Hallinden, currently used as a park and ride, but with a platform providing access to trains.

[6] After approximately 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi), climbing steadily again,[2] just north of Brastad, tracks and road turn southeast into the village, the largest community the line passes through between its termini.

At the coastline they both turn west to follow it, with the tracks running at a lower grade than the road, along the water's edge near the various port and dock facilities.

Following a short bend to the southwest again, the tracks end with a bumper block at the Gullmarn ferry dock.

The putative operators were unable to secure the SEK2.9 million in funding for the 90-kilometre-long (56 mi) line after plans for expanded port facilities at Lysekil turned out to be more complicated than expected, however, and the grant expired with no construction taking place.

After raising SEK1.2 million through subscriptions bought by local businesses and individuals, the Lysekils järnvägsaktiebolag (LyJ), a limited liability company, was founded in 1910.

[1] Before completing the line LyJ bought two tank locomotives from Nydqvist & Holm in nearby Trollhättan to pull cars.

Passenger traffic, particularly summertime visitors to the seaside, was supplemented by freight, including many tonnes of Bohus granite and Lysekil caviar.

However, the line's steep grades limited its hauling capacity, as the locomotives could only pull a certain number of carriages at a time.

Seven years later, in 1932, it bought a diesel-electric railcar that had always been part of its original plans[15] and added a special stall for it in Lysekil.

With the expansion of Sweden's road network and more people buying automobiles, more passenger and freight traffic was moved that way.

The next year the original railcars, which had remained in the Lysekil yard after the locomotive stalls were demolished, were finally removed.

[16] In 2012, the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), which had inherited SJ's responsibilities, announced it would discontinue maintenance of the line.

In January, Bengt Rydhed, deputy regional administrator for Trafikverket, said the agency saw no reason to continue operating the line.

[20] Late in the year, Trafikverket and Lysekil Municipality began discussing the possibility of the latter taking over the line, or another party.

[21] In March 2017, Trafikverket said that despite the SEK7.5 million it had been spending the last few years to maintain the track, it was still in very poor condition and it was highly doubtful that it would run trains along it this summer.

[16] On 30 January 2018, the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket) announced that all maintenance and traffic on the line will cease 9 December 2018, as the switch in Smedberg is disconnected.