This move, which made Sweden the first European country to undertake such a separation, also involved opening the railway system to private train operators, including open-access operators, and introducing competitive bidding for regional service contracts.

Between the major cities in southern Sweden, SJ operates the high-speed train X 2000 (200 km/h) on an hourly basis.

[1] The subsidised traffic covering most Swedish railway routes are handled and marketed by the different regional transport authorities, such as Skånetrafiken, Västtrafik and Storstockholms lokaltrafik.

While most current railway lines of Sweden were determined and built by the state, and receive their technical upkeep from the public as well, SJ no longer holds a monopoly on operating and owning passenger trains where such can be run profitably on a commercial basis.

[12] Rail traffic is supervised by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket), a government agency.

In 1853 the Riksdag of the Estates (a parliament chamber) decided that the State would build main line railways, but that other lines would be built by private enterprises (often with cities as main owners), and in 1856 the first stretch, between Örebro and Nora (a private railroad), was opened for traffic.

The first two main line railways were the Southern, stretching from Stockholm to Malmö in the south, and the Western, to Gothenburg in the west.

The Inland Railway runs from Gällivare in the north to Kristinehamn in the center of the country, through the central parts of northern Sweden, and was built between 1908 and 1937.

It was a part of the 1853 decision that the railways should avoid coasts, and not make detours to pass medium size cities along the route.

The construction of the early main lines provided a fast and safe connection from the mines in the north to the rest of Sweden.

Roslagsbanan is the oldest electrified railway line for personnel transportation in northern Europe.

Sweden and Denmark have different ATC systems and different voltage, so only specially modified trains can cross the border.

Norrbotniabanan Västlänken Ostlänken Sydostlänken Media related to Rail transport in Sweden at Wikimedia Commons