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SJ AB is a government-owned passenger train operator in
SwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe...
. SJ was created in 2000, out of the
public transportPublic transport comprises passenger transportation services which are available for use by the general public, as opposed to modes for private use such as automobiles or vehicles for hire.Public transport services are usually funded by fares charged to each passenger, with varying levels of subsidy...
division of
Statens JärnvägarStatens Järnvägar, SJ, or Swedish State Railways, originally Kungl. Järnvägsstyrelsen, or the Royal Railway Board, was a former enterprise agency of the Swedish government....
('The State's Railways', also commonly known as SJ), when the former
government agencyThe Government agencies in Sweden are state controlled organizations who act independently to carry out the policies of the Swedish Government. The Government Ministries are relatively small and merely policy-making organizations, allowed to control agencies by policy decisions but not by direct...
was divided into six separate government-owned limited companies.
SJ's operations fall broadly into subsidised and unsubsidised services. The unsubsidised services are a monopoly and consist mainly of the
X 2000X 2000 is the brand name of Sweden's tilting 200 km/h high-speed train class X2, which is constructed by ADtranz and operated by SJ. It was launched in 1990 as a first-class only train with a meal included in the ticket price, and free use of the train's fax machine...
high-speed trainHigh-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions include 200 km/h and faster — depending on whether the track is upgraded or new — by the European Union, and above 90 mph by the United...
network. The subsidised trains are awarded through competitive bids. However, some trains fall in between these categories, since public transit agencies can pay SJ to allow transit pass holders access to SJ's trains.
SJ received a government bailout a few years after its creation, but has since had profit margins of up to ten per cent. All train operators in Sweden pay low track access charges to the track authority,
BanverketThe Swedish Rail Administration is a government agency that owns and maintains virtually all railway lines in Sweden. It was formed in 1988 when Statens Järnvägar was split, leaving Statens Järnvägar as mainly a train operator and real estate owner, only to be split again in 2001...
.
In co-operation with
TraderaTradera.com is an online auction website in Sweden. Tradera currently has over a million members, and hundreds of thousands of visitors every month...
(Swedish
eBayeBay Inc. is an American Internet company that manages eBay.com, an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell a broad variety of goods and services worldwide. A majority of the sales take place through a set-time auction format, but subsequent methods include...
), SJ auctions surplus tickets on-line.
Passports required for travel
From September 2009, the train operator SJ requires an
identity documentAn identity document is any document which may be used to verify aspects of a person's personal identity. If issued in the form of a small, mostly standard-sized card, it is usually called an identity card...
from every passenger with a pre-paid ticket (which is mandatory on many trains). This identity document must be a certified Swedish identity document, or any passport. So the passport union is not valid on these trains anymore, and passport-free travel is not possible at least on SJ trains.
See also
- Statens Järnvägar
Statens Järnvägar, SJ, or Swedish State Railways, originally Kungl. Järnvägsstyrelsen, or the Royal Railway Board, was a former enterprise agency of the Swedish government....
- Nils Ericson
Friherre Nils Ericson was a Swedish inventor and mechanical engineer, like his brother, John Ericsson.-Background:...
, railway pioneer
- Transportation in Sweden
- Rail transport in Sweden
Rail transport in Sweden uses a network of 13,000 km of track, the 20th largest in the world. Construction of the first railway line in Sweden began in 1855. The major operator is the state-owned SJ AB.-Operators:...
- List of railway companies
- Green Cargo
Green Cargo is a Swedish logistics company transporting various types of goods by train. It was created in 2001 out of the logistics division of Statens Järnvägar and became a government-owned limited company.- See also :* SJ AB - public transport...
- Tågkompaniet
Tågkompaniet or Svenska Tågkompaniet AB is a Swedish railway company that operates franchises in Northern Sweden and Greater Stockholm. The company was founded in 1999 by three former railway employees in Statens Järnvägar and the investment company Småföretagsinvest/Fylkinvest...
- Veolia Transport
Veolia Transport is the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia Environnement...
- Banverket
The Swedish Rail Administration is a government agency that owns and maintains virtually all railway lines in Sweden. It was formed in 1988 when Statens Järnvägar was split, leaving Statens Järnvägar as mainly a train operator and real estate owner, only to be split again in 2001...
External links
- SJ - Official site
- Banverket - Official site (Swedish Railway Infrastructure Agency)