The Anonymous Widower

SJ Invests In Thriving Sleeper Trains

The title of this post is the same as that on this article on Global Rail News.

This is said.

Over the last five years, passenger numbers on its Malmö to Stockholm services have increased by 100 per cent.

There has also been growth on the Gothenburg-Stockholm-Umeå-Luleå-Kiruna-Narvi route, where passenger numbers have risen by 25 per cent.

That sounds like thriving to me!

So why is it that sleeper trains are thriving in the UK and Sweden, but countries like Germany have given up?

Malmö to Stockholm

These factors probably help this service

• Malmö is Sweden’s third-largest city.
• The frequent trains between Malmö and Stockholm take four and a half hours.
• Stockholm and Malmö are a very similar distance apart as London and Glasgow or Edinburgh.
• Malmö is only thirty-five minutes from Copenhagen by train.

As the Caledonian Sleeper works between London and Edinburgh/Glasgow, why shouldn’t a quality service work on a similar distance in Sweden?

Gothenburg-Stockholm-Umeå-Luleå-Kiruna-Narvi

These factors probably help this service

• The service effectively goes from the South-West of Sweden right up to the North.
• The distance as 1,600 kilometres
• I have been recommended to take this train to go to see the Northern Lights. So perhaps, it is useful for tourists.
• The service probably appeals to train enthusiasts.
• It is probably a reasonably civilised way to go to the North of Sweden.

I would certainly use it in winter to get to see the Northern Lights at Abrisko.

May 2, 2018 - Posted by AnonW | Travel | Caledonian Sleeper, Sleeper Trains, Sweden