History of rail transport in Sweden

The history of Sweden's railways has included both state-owned and private railways.

In 1845 the Swedish count Adolf Eugene von Rosen received permission to build railways in Sweden. He started building a railway between the town of Köping and Hult (a small port at Lake Vänern). Köping-Hults railway was intended to connect to steamboats on the lakes Mälaren and Vänern, giving a motorised connection between Gothenburg and . Von Rosen's money came from British investors. His money ran out in the 1850s and in 1854 the parliament of Sweden decided that the Swedish trunk lines (stambanorna) should be built and operated by the state.

The first completed public railway in Sweden was the Frykstadbanan, between Frykstad and Klara Älvs, in the province of Värmland. It had a track gauge of 1,188 mm and used horses for haulage. It was converted to steam operation in 1855.

The first railway in Sweden to use steam locomotives from the outset was Nora-Ervalla - Örebro railway in Närke, which opened 5 March 1856, built on standard gauge.

The railway "Bergslagsbanan" Gothenburg-Gavle-Falun, was the longest privately built railway, 478 km (297 mi), opened 1879. Many private railway companies built narrow gauge railways, like the network of between and Uppsala and Falkenberg railway in Halland, which both used the Swedish three foot gauge common to Sweden but not used in the rest of the world. Many private railways had cities as largest owner, so they were actually more like semi-municipal.

Sweden started building railways later than many other European countries. Sweden hesitated under heavy debate for several years because of the costs and other issues. Following the parliament's decision in 1854 a colonel of the Navy Mechanical Corps, Nils Ericson, was chosen as the leader for the project of building the main lines (stambanorna). His proposal was that the line between Gothenburg and Stockholm (Västra Stambanan) should run south of Lake Mälaren to avoid competition with shipping. This was completed in 1862. He also proposed that the line between Malmö and Stockholm (Södra stamabanan) should go to Nässjö and then on to Falköping, where it would meet up with Västra stambanan. There was a decision that, for military reasons, the railways should avoid the coasts as much as possible.

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