Two Rails Local Network
fbb can manage “karta” (map) and “trafik” (traffic) and can guess that “spar” might be train or rail. But “spar” is the name of a chain of convenience stores …
… which fbb always thought was a play on the words for cheap and pine tree! And rail in Swedish is “jarnwag” (iron road, surely) whilst train is “tag”.
Fortunately, the map offers at least an English translation of most of the tricky bits.
Confused.com?
The network offers three categories of service. Here are some lines market “T” on the map …
… so that would be trams, then?
Wrong again, fbb; it is Stockholm’s metro; T is for “tunnelbana”.
“bana” translates literally as path, so maybe tunnel routes or even underground routes would be a likely translation.
Let’s try lines 10 and 11 for rea! So we are looking for the “bla linen” which fbb could have guessed was
blue line even without the translation!
The station at Hjulsta is underground and very smart …
… with lifts …
… and escalators for the two-stage descent.
The general; finish is “hewn rockface” primitive in style.
The other northern terminus is Akala with a similar rocky decoration but seemingly in a cream colour rather than grey.
The two lines join …
… then, after passing through the main Central station, the city terminus is “Kungstradgarden” –
King Street Garden.
This time the hewn stone is blue with more added mysterious artwotk.
So the whole line is underground.
The Kingstradgarden itself looks rather fine in a very formal sort of way.
The station itself is in a little cars-banned side street but with a welcoming “T” at its end.
And there it is on the left.
The history of the line is surprisingly complex. With the help of Wikipedia, fbb can list what happened.
Groundbreaking for the Blue Line occurred on 2 September 1966.
31 August 1975
Line was opened between
T-Centralen and Hjulsta via Hallonbergen.
5 June 1977
the branch from
Hallonbergen to Akalla opened
30 October 1977
extended in the opposite direction from
T-Centralen to Kungsträdgården.
19 August 1985
opened between
Västra skogen and Rinkeby
via Sundbybergs centrum.
Line 10 was then diverted over this section
and no more passenger trains operated on the
Hallonbergen–Rinkeby section.
The blue line is thus all in tunnel except parts of the abandoned section which lead to the depot, possibly this one, also used by “proper” trains”
Other Tunnelbana lines do have open air sections.
A nice simple one is at the northern terminus of line 13 …
… where the Metro connects with Tram 21.
The Metro comes out of its tunnel and on to a viaduct …
.. .whence a walkway leads to tram 21.
It is called the “Lidingobanan and starts off as single track!
This leads us neatly (?) into tomorrow’s blog which looks at “trams and light rail”.
Next Stockholm blog : Thursday 30th November
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