The network has 72 stations, of which 9 are in the Malmö Urban Area: Malmö C, Triangeln, Hyllie, Svågertorp, Persborg, Rosengård, Östervärn, Burlöv and Oxie and 6 in the Helsingborg Urban Area: Helsingborg C, Maria, Påarp, Ramlösa, Rydebäck and Ödåkra.

Local passenger rail traffic in Sweden had historically been provided by state operator SJ, but in the 1970s, opposition from director general Lars Petersson to Scanian local traffic and subsequent threats of line closures led to the formation of two local federations of Scanian municipalities (SSK and NSK) seeking to begin providing their own rail services.

Services were originally operated with X7 brown multiple units from the 1940s, and by 1983 trains from Malmö served Lund, Landskrona, Teckomatorp and Helsingborg.

With the arrival of the new purple X11 units from ASEA, partly financed with a loan from PK-Banken, the name and brand Pågatågen took shape.

In December 2015, the largest expansion in Pågatågen's history was implemented with the opening of the Hallandsås Tunnel and two new stations at Förslöv and Barkåkra, as well as the re-introduction of passenger rail services to Trelleborg after an absence of over 40 years.

In December 2018, some services originating from points north of Malmö Central Station began to be extended in a balloon loop-shaped route through the City Tunnel and onto the Continental Line running through the inner-city of Malmö (line 11), serving two newly built stations at Persborg and Rosengård.

[10] Ten of these X61 units are also occasionally rented out to Västtrafik, which is currently experiencing a shortage of rolling stock until the X80 trains start service in 2025.

The reason for the difference is that half of the Øresundståg rolling stock is owned by Danish DSB which does not want to install Swedish ticket machines.