Saturday, May 3, 2014

Nässjö, Falköping

(Please note this post was made 2017-03-16). Next day after my visit to Malmö, I'm returning back passing through Nässjö, Falköping and Örebro.
 In Nässjö, I'm changing trains to Västtåg X53 from 2001. The train has been extended from 2 to 3 coaches in 2008. Jönköpingsbanan railway between Nässjö and Falköping has been operated by Vättertåg between 1994 and 2010, and since 2010 by Västtåg.

 Y32 at Nässjö
 Forserum
 Meeting another Västtåg
 Tenhult
 After Tenhult, the railway level is descending towards the lake Vättern level.

 Huskvarna
 Jönköping. It is the 9th largest city in Sweden, located between Göteborg and Stockholm, nevertheless the train communication to these cities is far from good. Today it takes about 2h to Göteborg and almost 4h to Stockholm with changes in Falköping or Nässjö. The new high speed railway Götalandsbanan would reduce these travel times dramatically, Jönköping-Göteborg would take less than 1h.
 Lake Vättern
 Jönköpingsbanan is a single track railway, our train have to wait for a meeting train.

 Bankeryd
 Habo
 Passing close to Gerumsberget which is a plateau mountain, 326m above sea level.
 Falköping
 TMZ from Three T
 I'm changing trains here
 X40 is my next train
 This is one of highest places along the Västra Stambanan railway
 Skövde garnison


 Töreboda
 In 2014 the replacement of overhead catenary system was ongoing.
 Another X40


 Laxå

Friday, May 2, 2014

Nässjö, Alvesta, Hjärup, Malmö

(Please note this post was made 2017-03-15). Sorting my old photos, and now I've reached the 1st of May holidays 2014. 1st of May was a Thursday, hence Friday which was a working day became a holiday for me ("klämdag" in Swedish). That long weekend I took a trip from Stockholm to Malmö, and since it was a working day, I decided to take "Krösatåg" train between Nässjö to Alvesta. The service for that line in 2014 was only on weekdays, so it would not be possible to do that on a weekend day, which I often use for my train trips.
 I'm starting my day taking X2 train to Nässjö. In the morning the competitor Snälltåget has also same service (Stockholm-Malmö) but with a slower locomotive hauled coach train. Later I will see that train in Alvesta.
 Year 2014, some X2 train still made a stop in Flemingsberg.
 Igelstabridge
 Linköping station. Östgötapendeln was still using X14 trains, today it's only X61.
In Linköping, X2 trains are often meeting arriving from opposite directions.
 Buss or Puss (to kiss someone in Swedish).
 Östergötland province is changing to Småland, when X2 is heading further south.
 Nässjö
 Here is my next train, X11 "Krösatåg" service from Nässjö to Växjö.
 X2 continues to Malmö. I'm taking a slower way from here.
 Höglandet is a name for this geographical region covering parts of Småland. The name means "highland" due to large hilly areas, mostly 200 m above sea level.
 Seems that Nässjö station had some construction works that day.
 X2 is gone first
 Next is my train for same direction. This X11 as many others have been removed from Skånetrafiken, and are now used for Krösatåg services.
 Each had a name, this is one is "Absalon" named after a Danish archbishop and statesman, who was the Bishop of Roskilde from 1158 to 1192 and Archbishop of Lund from 1178 until his death.
 Most of the X11 have been rebuilt and repainted from the purple colour to yellow since 2014. This one is still purple.
 The trip between Nässjö and Alvesta is taking 35min by X2 (without stops). X11 train has 6 stops and the trip takes about 1h. Here is Sävsjö station.
 Stockaryd
 Monument of a stationmaster (Stins) in Stockaryd, and it is made of wood. That's exactly the reason why I took a slower train here (to be able to see this kind of details), when passing by X2 with 200km/h it's not possible to catch.
 Today this Krösatåg service has 10 trains per day (weekdays) and 4 trains on weekends.
 In Alvesta, the train has to change direction for continuing to Växjö.
This was my first visit to Alvesta station, which is one of the most important railway junction stations in Sweden. It is connecting Södra stambana (South Main railway) with Kust till kust (Coast to coast) railway.
 The station was built 1909 by Folke Zettervall. The station area was rebuilt in 2012.

 Snälltåget (which I saw earlier in Stockholm) is catching me up in Alvesta. Back in 2014, Snälltåget was renting locomotives from Hectorrail. Here is Hectorrail 242.531 "La Motta", which is a Siemens Taurus ES64U2 Eurosprinter locomotive. Today (2017) Snälltåget has Vectron locomotives.
 Even though Taurus locomotive is approved for 200km/h, the coaches used by Snälltåget are not. They are too old, so the maximum speed is 160km/h.
Here is BC2K and it is from 1947!!!
 Green light for Snälltåget.
 Another Krösatåg has arrived, this time it is X11 (3170) from Hässleholm to Växjo. It has since 2014 been repainted with yellow/white livery.

 It happens a lot during my short visit in Alvesta. Next up is SJ Regional from Kalmar to Göteborg.


 The waiting hall on 2nd floor became an exposition hall. This day it was an art project showing here.

 My 3rd train for today is Öresundståg.
 Just before my departure, another X2 was approaching and later overtaking my train.
 Osby station
 Hässleholm
 Eslöv
 Landscape of Skåne
 After changing trains in Lund, I've arrived to Hjärup which is just outside Lund.
 The reason is this housing estate called Jakriborg, built in 1990.
 It is built in Hansa cities style.

 The railway is just outside the area, here is X61 passing by
 In May rapeseeds are blooming in Sweden, giving it its traditional yellow colour (some say representing on the Swedish flag).
 X2



 Lund is seen from here
 X31





 I'm back at the station. Here, only Pågatåg X61 are stopping, and not all of them.

 Other trains are rushing by here.
 Snälltåget back to Stockholm.
 My next stop is Hyllie, opened in 2010.
 The station opened together with 2 other new stations and the tunnel under Malmö. Here is one X61 to Ystad.
 Hyllie is Malmö's newest and biggest development areas which lies very close to the Öresundsbridge connecting Sweden with Denmark.
 Hyllie has a new arena (hosting Eurovision song contest in 2013) and a new shopping mall - Emporia has been built here.
 The shopping mall Emporia opened 2012
 From the Emoria roof garden one can view the Öresund bay area.
 And the bridge.


 Back in 2014, some of the Pågatåg terminated here in Hyllie. Since opening of the Trelleborg line in 2016, they continue either to Simrishamn/Ystad or Trelleborg.
 Hyllie station
 Hyllie is the first stop after the bridge, and it has since 2015 become a station controlled by police. Back in 2014 there were no controls.
Today there is a fence dividing the platforms.
 Next stop in Triangeln.
 It's also opened in 2010, and it is inside the tunnel, 25m under the ground level. Light installation based on LED is representing trains passing by.
 Citytunnel was financed by Swedish government through Trafikverket (6 billions SEK), region Skåne (800 millions SEK), Malmö city (1 billion SEK) and European Union (700 millions SEK).
 Station is serving both Pågatåg and Öresundståg.

Citytunnel is 6km long
 Next stop - Kastup airport in Denmark. Travel time from Triangeln to Kastrup airport is 18 min

 North entrance. Tringeln station won an architect prize in 2011 - Kasper Salin Prize.
 Ticket machines