Sweden's High Speed Rail Explained

[@RMTransit]

This is a reupload due to technical difficulties, please enjoy it if you haven't seen it before!

[@FindecanorNotGmail]

I think you should have fixed fixed the inaccuracies that people had pointed out the last time.

[@mathiasm5464]

Would you please consider talking about swedens commuter train/pendeltåg?

[@tomkj5gy]

Polish Hyperloop is approaching. Hyper Poland presented the latest technology. The Hyper Poland team wants to combine the possibilities of magnetic railways with Elon Musk's idea called Hyperloop. On railway lines, where trains can run at speeds of up to 160 km/h, mag rail vehicles can reach speeds almost twice as high (up to 300 km/h), and on high-speed lines up to 415 km/h. Only then will the modified railway tracks be covered with a vacuum cap, and after the air pressure inside the tunnel is reduced, the vehicle speed will increase to 600 km/h. Fly anywhere in the world within an hour. Elon Musk's new plan. Patented TR3B anti-gravity from Google Patents. In 2013 Polands trail train reach almost 300 km/h... Those trains and other with similar speeds - Polish (Lechian) producions - are now in use a long time.

[@ReyOfLight]

I’m Swedish and live in a town along the western line. Growing up, I had an “uncle” (partner of my aunt but they weren’t married) who was driving trains and he was on the X2000 when the train was brand new on our railroads. Sometimes he’d call us from the train just before passing by my town, and sound the horn as the train passed by here with or without being on the phone with us at the time. With this being the early 90’s it felt like the coolest thing ever to have someone call your home from a moving train, and know someone who was driving X2000 because at that time X2000 was very exclusive and very expensive to travel with. Initially X2000 was really just fit for business travel because it was just that much more expensive to travel with. These days and since many years now it cost about the same or sometimes even less than the slower trains. I lived in Copenhagen or Malmö for little over 5 years (2006 to early 2012) and often during that time I would save both time and money by taking X2000 to visit back home, compared to taking the Öresundståg (and the latter shouldn’t even operate on such long routes as Elsinore-Gothenburg, it’s only fit for 1-2 hours AT THE MOST!) and a lot of the time it was even cheapest to travel in first class on X2000 which I didn’t complain about at all because that extra space and access to coffee and juice and ability to pre order a meal and have it served to your seat was really nice when traveling after work. Since MTRX started here in Sweden with their Gothenburg-Stockholm route, I have mostly been traveling with them when I’ve had to go to Stockholm even though there are options from SJ from where I live, MTRX is just a lot more affordable and you have almost the exact same travel time by MTRX as with X2000 (but a two way ticket with MTRX can cost about the same as one way ticket with any SJ train)

[@jatterhog]

SJ X2 över Kina-ägda MTR alla dagar! Tycker också du borde pröva Tågab i första klass om du bor längs med deras linjer, en utmärkt tågupplevelse.

[@ReyOfLight]

@@jatterhog Bor längs med Västra Stambanan men är tyvärr begränsad vilka tåg jag kan resa med på grund av att jag använder rullstol. Även om jag kan gå korta sträckor så måste jag ändå vara i anpassat tåg eller den anpassade kupén på grund av golvytan så har inte ens lyxen att kunna boka 1 Klass längre :/

[@garyknighton9089]

While you are focusing on Transit in Sweden, you have already covered the Stockholm Metro (T), are you at some point intending to focus on Northern Europe's most extensive tram (streetcar/trolley) network in Gothenburg which I have noticed has grown significantly in the past four decades when I first visited the city and intend to visit again later this year?

[@tomkj5gy]

Polish Hyperloop is approaching. Hyper Poland presented the latest technology. The Hyper Poland team wants to combine the possibilities of magnetic railways with Elon Musk's idea called Hyperloop. On railway lines, where trains can run at speeds of up to 160 km/h, mag rail vehicles can reach speeds almost twice as high (up to 300 km/h), and on high-speed lines up to 415 km/h. Only then will the modified railway tracks be covered with a vacuum cap, and after the air pressure inside the tunnel is reduced, the vehicle speed will increase to 600 km/h. Fly anywhere in the world within an hour. Elon Musk's new plan. Patented TR3B anti-gravity from Google Patents. In 2013 Polands trail train reach almost 300 km/h... Those trains and other with similar speeds - Polish (Lechian) producions - are now in use a long time.

[@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous]

@@tomkj5gy Never gonna happen because it can't and it's too expensive with regular maglev as is. It is far better to build and extend 200-250 km/h railroads and rail networks and use them frequently, reliably and at a high capacity. That way you can still be economically solvent and move 100s of thousands to millions of people every year. I would love for the hyperloop idea to work but with available and projected technologies it can never happen. Elon Musk has admitted to having proposed the hyperloop idea only because he wanted to stop California from investing in sensible high-speed rail.

[@jonatansvenssonglad7088]

Omg, that first image of Stockholm was taken by me. Thanks for following all Creative Commons attribution requirements! :D

[@user-lv6rn9cf8m]

5:01 - there now are night trains from Stockholm to Berlin. Went quicker than expected.

[@niiinaa]

So, I don't think you can call the System in Austria a "high speed rail network", even tho parts of it operate at 200-220kph, but I would love to see a video about Austria at some point (since I live there and think we have some nice rail transport). Reasonable option in my opinion are: -Metro system of Vienna -S-Bahn/Regional Rail system in and around Vienna -Nightline train network operated by the National Rail operator which extends far beyond the country boarders -The hilariously complicated tram system of Vienna -The surprisingly extensive Tram system (and it's planned expansion) in Graz Right, enough propaganda for my small little country. I've been loving your videos ever since I found them a two or so months ago and have at this point binged through a large part of them. Loving the new ones, loving the old ones. And I am continuously amazed by how dense your uploads are. The production quality of your videos is amazing, the research is good and accurate (as far as I can tell) and the pacing is well done every time. I don't know how you manage it, but big props to you and your team if you have one.

[@erkinalp]

Vienna tram has been explained by tapakapa, both in English and in Viennese.

[@23nine]

Yeah the concept in Austria is rather high performance / high-capacity rail than high speed rail. You could make a video about that. The biggest projects being the modernized Westbahn route (Vienna - Salzburg), the upcoming new Südbahn (Vienna - Graz - Klagenfurt) with its two extensive tunnels that are currently in construction, and the future Brennerbahn in Tyrol.

[@23nine]

Regarding the tram system in Graz, the narrow inner city streets through which it runs are also worth mentioning

[@heidirabenau511]

@@erkinalp Austrians speak german

[@darkman007e]

I was in Copenhagen and Sweden last August. We took a train from Copenhagen to Malmo to visit Malmo then we left Malmo for Gothenburg. Couple of days later, we went to Stockholm. I can't believe how cheap, fast and reliable these train were. Even better hours then the EXO commuter train in Montreal. Obviously as a Canadian, I can't believe that these small countries like Denmark and Sweden have figure this out while in Canada, if I want to go from Montreal to Quebec City (a slightly shorter distance then Malmo to Gothenburg), we pretty much have to do it by car given the time it will take with Via Rail and let's not forget the high cost. Hopefully, the future High Frequency line that via rail will built will be at least similar to what SJ is doing in Sweden. I didn't try MTRX or the other private companies. Anyway there were more expensive then SJ and often took more time too.

[@Jkaninteangemittnamn]

sweden privatised the lines and thier service due are a big cause to all deleys -going cheap means just that -the trains maybe be good -guess the govenment will soon take back the lines and run the service - this summer there were many stops from and to stockholm like several times a week . Even the tunnelbana got their provided kicked out due not meeting standards -yes a foregin bidder won and now have to leave

[@Skogsmard]

Can you do a video on the interoperability on HSR in Europe, which countries' rolling stock is compatible with their neighbors' rail systems and the challenges of improving said interoperability? A few things that I know varies from country to country: Rail gauge (mostly a former USSR vs rest of Europe issue) Loading gauge Differences in overhead voltage (25 KV 50Hz in Denmark, UK, France and others vs 15KV 16,67Hz in Sweden, Germany and Austria) and so on.

[@katbryce]

Spain & Portugal use Iberian Gauge. Ireland and Northern Ireland use Irish Gauge. There have been proposals for a tunnel or a bridge from Northern Ireland to Scotland, but they probably won't go anywhere. Italy has a lot of Meter Gauge track on local services, though their Intercity lines are close enough to Standard Gauge for it not to be an issue.

[@AL5520]

There are multi-system trains that support a variety of voltages, both DC and AC and different power transmission systems. There are also trains that can change gauge. In Spain and Portugal, mentioned by Katrina Bryce, they use the Iberian Gauge but most of Spanish high speed rail system was built with standard gauge to allow connections to other European countries but they had such a connection for years with gauge changing trains, that can do it with passengers on board by passing at slow speed though a small structure with an automatic gauge changing system. It only takes a few minutes. That said the goal is to unify the system. This will take time but the EU is working toward that goal. Right now a big project funded mostly by the EU. In this project, called Rail Baltica, they are constructing a high speed standard gauge line in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that will connect them to Finland on the northern end (by ferries at first but a tunnel is planned) to Poland with a total of 870 km of double tracks for mixed passenger and freight (passenger top speed of 234 km/h and freight 120 km/h). I'm sure than they will slowly start to replace the old USSR gauge to standard gauge on the rest of their network.

[@vonnikon]

A major interoperability problem is the different signaling systems. The plan is to solve that with ERTMS. ERTMS might actually deserve its own video...

[@MTobias]

@@katbryce this ia not the case for HSR, though. Except for Russia and Finland, all HSR runs on stadard gauge.

[@TalesOfWar]

The gauge in Russia/Former Soviet Union was done on purpose to make it difficult to be invaded. If you did, you'd have to convert your rolling stock at the border or have something that worked on both (such trains exist, though they're rather impractical and expensive as you'd imagine).

[@derpmansderpyskin]

It'd be interesting to see a video on the costs/benefits of different speeds. As I understand it, there's a lot of focus on 200mph+ trains that would be extraordinarily expensive, when 100-150mph regional trains would cost exponentially less, and probably get a lot more people off the road (or out of the air) per dollar.

[@TalesOfWar]

The truly high speed trains should only really run on their own dedicated track to get the most out of them. It allows for faster, more regular long distance services and frees up the capacity on the larger, slower network for regional and freight services. Most places need to invest in this. At least here in the UK the government seem to be against anything that actually makes life easier for anybody who can't or doesn't want to drive everywhere. It's also a MASSIVE factor in modal shift to get people off the roads as you say, which is the main contributor to greenhouse gasses.

[@SweDaneDragon]

You need the high speed to compete with flying. Like Stockholm-Gothenburg. With the high speed trains, the traveltime is about the same, when you account for getting to the airport, check in, security check, then getting from the destination airport. You can work the whole trip on the train, while you ahve a lot of time where you do other things to get on a plane.

[@alex2143]

I'd argue that consistency, reliability, comfort, high frequency, affordability and good coverage are all more important than hitting some arbitrary extremely high speed. If you want to convince people to leave the car and take the train, those are the factors that matter most for most people. As an example, if there was a train that could do an average of 150 km/h (slightly over 90 mph) it would do Amsterdam to Berlin in slightly over 4 hours (whereas it would take about 6-7 hours by car). An average of 150 km/h leaves enough room in the schedule to make a couple of stops along the way which would increase the accessibility and utility of such a service massively. So with relatively affordable and very accessible track, it's possible to offer very high levels of service that easily beat driving. And since such a service can make more stops than a train going twice that speed, it would also offer that service to way more people - basically everyone along that line. High speed rail is definitely useful and has its places (and I'm not saying we shouldn't build it), but we shouldn't JUST build HSR. In my opinion, HSR in most cases should be an addition to already-existing conventional rail, which serves 1) to alleviate congestion on the conventional rail and allow it to serve more local trips, 2) to improve service to an already established rider base, and 3) to let the conventional rail track serve as a "first hop" for connecting to one of the (less frequent) stops of the HSR train, which might only make 2 or 3 stops rather than the 10-12 stops that the conventional rail train would make. So long story short: conventional rail and HSR aren't competitors per se, but two sides of the same coin, and both serve different purposes. Conventional rail can offer a very good base level of service that's accessible to a lot of people, and HSR can add a layer on top of that.

[@vonnikon]

Costs are a bit complicated. High speed passenger trains can't handle curves. But they are able to climb grades. While cargo trans can't handle grades, but do curves without any problems. Sooooo. If you want to build a line which can handle both high speed and cargo trains, then you can't go around obstacles, and you can't go over or under obstacles. Which makes it REALLY expensive to build the line. That is one major reason why 300km/h lines are built as dedicated passenger lines: It allows the line to be built with steeper grades, which reduce cost.

[@marclemieux8269]

@@alex2143 Yours is precisely the argument for implementing a HrSR-type (Higher Speed Rail) of modernized passenger rail service, rather than HSR (High Speed Rail), for use on the proposed HFR (High Frequency Rail) project for the Toronto to Quebec City corridor in Canada. Since the government of Canada has already purchased 32 new Siemens Charger train sets capable of operating at top speeds of 200 kph or 125 mph for use on the present freight-owned corridor from Windsor to Quebec City, it just makes economic and practical sense to simply purchase dual-mode versions of these train sets for the long-awaited HFR project. For example, the newly-proposed HFR route between Toronto to Ottawa via Peterborough would entail a very attractive travel time of 3 hours or less to cover a distance of around 400 kilometers, which would compete very favourably even with air travel but with far lower fares due to dramatically reduced construction costs in comparison to HSR. Combine the above-mentioned improvement in travel times with mostly-dedicated trackage, hourly frequencies and vastly-improved reliability, and you'll have a recipe for a very successful, environmentally-friendly, sustainable, and useful HFR project! Since we've already had numerous other HSR proposals in the past thirty years or more in Canada that were ultimately shelved due to high costs of construction, a HrSR-type (Higher Speed Rail) of HFR project offers the best hope for an eventual approval by Canada's federal government.

[@Dqtube]

In the Czech Republic, we have been planning a HSR since the mid-1990s and are proudly still in the planning phase. The "gain" of this strategy is that the train link from Berlin to Vienna is not via the Czech Republic, but a few hundred kilometres longer southern route around the Czech border, which is faster than the shorter route via Prague.

[@lauraner99]

The interconnection of the Czech railway with other countries is a disgrace indeed.

[@sjokomelk]

As a small note - There are EU laws demanding that all new or reconstructed rail lines has to be built for 250km/t speeds. That is why that speed is chosen. It is just the minimum you are allowed to build. And that is why the line south of Umeå has a 250km/h speed limit today. And also a small stretch at the border with Finland far north in Sweden also has 250km/h limit. Both these two have ETCS level 2 signalling.

[@MrDigitalman78]

Sweden has a lot of good high-speed rail trains connecting to its 3 cities Gothenburg, Malmo and Stockholm, where the majority of people live.

[@vonnikon]

Decent high-speed service all the way up to Umeå nowdays. But there is nothing faster than 200km/h in Sweden yet.

[@klausbriesma9050]

High speed is 200 kmh?

[@Felix-t5k]

@@klausbriesma9050 In Sweden they count 200 km/h as high speed, but in other countries they dont.

[@vilgotadvall8650]

4:57 there is already a sleeper train that goes from Stockholm to Berlin and it is called Snälltåget

[@eliskaszabova]

I love seeing these smaller countries represented in your videos! Hopefully one day you’ll make a video about the Czech Republic’s railways as well. Both my parents are, in some capacity, working for the Czech railway company, my dad specifically works with signalling infrastructure. I’m looking forward to learn from your video and have a discussion about it with him :)

[@studioxxswe]

It would be nice to see an episode of the Öresund bride from a railway point of view as its quite interesting, as it has the Swedish ATC system, but uses Danish voltage and the X31 can do both (and the railway power can actually switch between)

[@JBS319]

Switzerland has a very interesting take on high speed rail. Rather than building 320 km/h high speed lines like their neighbors Italy France and Germany, high speed services generally only reach those top speeds on either some very limited sections of 250 km/h track or in base tunnels. In addition, there is no step up fare for high speed services in Switzerland, including international services running domestically like the TGV from Zurich to Basel and Geneva to Lausanne, the RailJet from Buchs SG to Zurich, EuroCity services from Chiasso and Brig to Basel, Geneva and Zurich and from Zurich to St. Gallen, and the ICE from Basel to Zurich, Interlaken and Chur. High speed capable trains show up domestically on both IC and IR services.

[@kaimuller7819]

Exactly, out cities are just not far apart from one another. Almost every town is serviced by train. And almost every city (more than 30,000) is served by „high speed“ trains. We only have tilting trains as we are a mountainous country were you can’t just build straight tracks.

[@todayonthebench]

The main issues I see with Sweden's rail service is the general lack of decent passing loops on single tracked lines. Practically all passing loops require the train to stop, wait and then get back up to speed again. If the 400 meter passing loops were lengthened by 1-2 km, then it would be less sensitive to minor delays in the train schedule and allow trains to operate a bit more smoothly. This is however less of a problem on the higher capacity sections of the network where we have double track instead. But it would be nice to see more dynamic passing loops, since they can help bridge the gap in capacity between single track and double track rather effectively. While not adding too much cost overall. Another flaw is that stations often sits ON the mainline, this effectively makes the stopping train block the track and take up the time table. Increasing travel times for all trains while also reducing throughput. Preferably stations should be on a passing loop, and preferably the points taking trains onto and off the mainline should be designed for 120+ km/h, so the trains don't have to go at a "crawl" to get on/off the mainline. (In short, this means that when a train slows in and goes off to the station, the train that were behind it will drive past on the mainline instead of needing to wait for however long the stopping train is scheduled to stop + its deceleration and acceleration times. (in either case we will still have some extra margin for safety and for the passing loop solution we also have margin for switching points.))

[@smurftums]

From memory, Norway deals with single track high speed lines by using 15km long passing loops. Seems to work. :)

[@kariminalo979]

I think Sweden should be looking into either French or Italian HSR systems to resolve these issues. The bypassing tracks around Paris is a great example of building an HSR that is capable of facilitating trains at higher frequencies and speeds without causing major slowdowns or congestion.

[@todayonthebench]

@@smurftums Where? All I can find in Norway are 700 meters. All I can find in Sweden is about 400 meters, except 1 to the west of Arboga that is 10 km for some reason...

[@smurftums]

In the Norwegian high speed rail entry in Wikipedia, under the long term plans heading. They're investigating it as a possible solution.

[@todayonthebench]

@@smurftums Ie, they currently don't have it. But regardless, longer passing loops is preferable on single track rail. Going for 15 km might be a bit cost prohibitive, and honestly even 2-3 km can do a lot, more is however better. Since going all the way down to a standstill and back takes a lot of time and this is the main problem of short passing loops. At 15 km one should likely start looking at double track instead, for the added redundancy in case of track downtime due to maintenance or accidents. (and downtime is another issue of single track. And even of highly used double track that honestly sometimes should have a 3rd track.)

[@REDnBLACKnRED]

I will truly miss the tilting SJ trains when they are gone. I will also miss the iconic corrugated design for the X2000 and the Stockholm metro since the new replacements in both cases seem to lose that design and look much more conventional. I wish they kept that!

[@Da_Big_G]

Sweden's high-speed network is helped by the compact nature of Swedish cities. Every Swedish city I have visited has had key tourist destinations within walking distance of its main station.

[@REDnBLACKnRED]

Because other than Stockholm, no Swedish city can realistically be called a big city. Even Stockholm is tiny compared to the likes of London and Paris. Sweden's entire population is smaller than that of London alone. It's incredible that such a small country enjoys such an advanced infrastructure network. Very few other countries with the population of Sweden have anything close.

[@Da_Big_G]

@@REDnBLACKnRED the flat nature of Sweden also helps a lot.

[@Newbyte]

@@REDnBLACKnRED I wish you were right. Even towns with small populations can be big and winding if they're built wrong.

[@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous]

@@Da_Big_G Flat? Sweden is not a flat country by any means. We're also not mountains everywhere but rather somewhere in between. Sweden is a very hilly country with more lakes and islands than most care to count. All transportation infrastructure has to deal with those wherever you are travelling. Of course, most Swedes live in the flatter regions of the country but it is still not all that flat in many places.

[@Da_Big_G]

@@IWouldLikeToRemainAnonymous the area that contains the major cities, particularly in areas like Skåne province, is very flat, though I am aware that the border regions with Norway and the far north in particular are mountainous. Certainly, it is a lot less mountainous than Norway!

[@gabrielfelippemateus]

Portugal is planning its firs HSR for 2028, it'd nice if you covered it. It'd also be cool a comprehensive video about transit in Lisbon, there is a lot going on, the metro, the Azambuja Sintra Cascais and Setubal lines, some streetcars and the new circular line.

[@Ethan-vj5mt]

Is the alfa pendular not a hsr?

[@gabrielfelippemateus]

@@Ethan-vj5mt I'd consider so, but there's a debate around it, since some people just consider hsr above 250km/h and Alfa pendular reaches 220km/h. However in this new hsr project the trains will reach up to 300km/h, consolidating it as hsr.

[@przemeksosna980]

Hiiii, Will you do a video about some transit in Poland? We have some "high'ish" speed rail, (though a lot of it is outdated, post soviet era, though there are some nice new trains.). I also think that the public transport in a lot of cities is a nice topic. For example here in Cracow, the streetcar network is 140 years old. Currently it's running both very old trams (Konstal 105Na,SGP/Lohner E1 ) but also newer ones like the Stadler Tango.

[@blueeyedbaer]

I live in Borås, a small-ish city 60 km away from Gothenburg and 100 km away from Jönköping. We don't have a commuter train right now, just a regular train which goes to Gothenburg every couple of hours (because of the single track). And there is a huge demand for that because both cities are growing fast and many people commute both ways. The new railway will connect Borås to Gothenburg city and the airport with a double track and commuter trains every 15 minutes. It will also be more convenient to visit Jönköping because there is no train conncetion right now and you either drive your car or ride on a bus for a couple of hours. It will be very convenient. It's just that it won't happen any time soon.

[@swedneck]

there *is* a train connection, it just requires going up to falköping first.

[@blueeyedbaer]

@@swedneck Well, then why not going through Gothenburg? There is no direct connection to either Jönköping or Falköping. Switching trains at Herrljunga doesn't count.

[@TalesOfWar]

Oh they're finally making a rail link to Landvetter?

[@vonnikon]

Correction 1: Yes, there is a X2000 service to Oslo, but it runs on old tracks. No high speed there. The Oslo bus service is competitive. Correction 2: There is a 190km fully 250km/h capable ERTMS line in operation along the northern coast. There is just no 250km/h rolling stock yet. Correction 3: You probably should have mentioned the 270km long 250km/h ERTMS line which is currently under construction between Umeå and Luleå. Correction 4: The planned 250-320km/h lines which you mentioned in southern Sweden are just plans, and they have been just plans for a really long time. There is somewhat limited political support for the project, and no decision to start construction. We are hoping it will be built, but it is not going to happen anytime soon. IMHO we will see 250km/h ERTMS upgrades of some existing lines long before the new lines are built. In particular the west cost line Copenhagen-Malmö-Gothenburg is mostly 250km/h geometry. It just needs an ERTMS upgrade to allow 250km/h operation between these large cities.

[@swededude1992]

Våra höghastighetslinjer som blivit föreslagna är i stort fastslagna att dom ska byggas. Det som stoppar projektet är den astronomiskt höga kostnaden på bortemot 350 miljarder kr, som är en mycket stor del av landets ekonomi. Hur det ska finansieras och var pengarna ska komma ifrån är kontroversiellt.

[@vonnikon]

@@swededude1992 nja, i stort sett hela det borgerliga blocket är i dagsläget negativt inställda till projektet. Så det är lite knepigt att ordna en bred majoritet för projektet i riksdagen. Ja eller nej till projektet varierar med mandatperioderna, och det duger inte.

[@JamesTrifolium]

Amtrak never had any intention of buying the X2000 or the ICE 1. They just tested them to get a basis for what their own high-speed train would look and feel like.

[@zerocool6452]

Which is a shame because they chose an inferior solution (cost savings), they made a random mixup with TGV based powercars and some modified passengers cars that came from Canada. X2000 would have been a better fit since its excellent to run on bad tracks which it was literally made for. But yeah that didn't happen.

[@Xanthopteryx]

Next topic: Freight train in Sweden, and especially those cool mining trains going in northern Sweden, and in the mine(!). Contact LKAB for more information.

[@hocamrastas4778]

Thank you Reece, very informative. Nice to see future plans to high-speed the services to Berlin.

[@scottengel9965]

Another fascinating video. I took a night train back in 1994 from Stockholm to Malmo and onto Berlin. The train drove onto a fairy across the Baltic Sea towards Germany. I found it amazing at the time.

[@martinvanoene7192]

Just awesome . The way to go! We in North America need this. Thanks for this .

[@johnanders2739]

Can you make a demystified about the mentioned fehmarnbelt tunnel?

[@RMTransit]

Good idea!

[@adamevans1989]

X 2000 is the best looking train in the world, like a Metroliner that understands aerodynamics. I do have to say that Arlanda Express is a mild con, considering SJ's express trains to and from Uppsala and Gävle also stop at Arlanda with 200kph trainsets and are WAY cheaper.

[@trijetz3562]

why make a high speed train aerodynamic if you could just force it to go 125 mph 😎

[@TalesOfWar]

@@trijetz3562 They've tried that with trains that have the aerodynamics of a brick lol. You can do it, but it's very fuel inefficient and the wake literally blows out the windows on passing trains haha.

[@stickynorth]

The model for Canadian Via service expansion moving forward if you ask me especially in the Windsor-Quebec City corridor...

[@stickynorth]

And for the Edmonton-Calgary CP line which is and should be seen as separate from the proposed Ellis-Don Prairie Link greenfield project...

[@Freshbott2]

Costs and average speeds are everything. If you just upgrade the standards on stretches already up for maintenance anyway you don’t end up spending a lot more money and people gradually see the benefits vs. having little to no service and watching projects get off the ground but take a lifetime to complete. Spain figured this out with their dual grade trains so they only upgrade to standard gauge when an old stretch is deteriorated. Spain and Sweden should really be exporting their systems on a big scale to USA, Canada, Aus, and especially the UK.

[@schnitzl4776]

Do you count the Austrian RailJet also as high speed rail? I live here and it would be interesting to know your opinion about it.

[@johanfagerstromjarlenfors]

X2 is the name of the vehicle and X2000 is the name of the concept. The name of the concept of the X55 is called SJ3000. The X in the vehicle name means it is an electric railcar. If it were to be a diesel railcar it would be Y. U forgot to mention Snälltåget which also is a locomotive + cars (like the flixtrain) also using vectron locomotive and driving at high speeds.

[@ThatEpicSwede]

I wish you'd waited a bit with making this video because now we have newer models of the x2000 and they're awesome

[@TheAslakVind]

SJ X2000 is really nice to trvel with between CPH - STO. Book 1st class, and you will get breakfast served at your seat should you choose to. And it is a highspeed train, she has set a record of 276 km/h. Great vids! New vids: Denmark just received their first TALGO trains for international lines as CPH - HAM, pulled by Vectrons. But they will not enter service before the winter schedule end 2024.

[@danigud5084]

I would love to see a video on Switzerland

[@ZRHTrainspotter]

Why did you delete the high speed rail videos of Italy, france, china, etc.

[@Emierbeach]

Was thinking the same thing

[@anthonyholroyd5359]

It's funny you should equate the X2000 with the Intercity125. I've always equated them with the Intercity225. I think largely because they are electeic loco+DVT push-pull sets developed around the same time. For my nation? I look to Sweden and also Austria as potential sources of inspiration. Scotland is smaller than both but has similar challenging terrain, changeable weather and population densities. I like the idea of piecemeal upgrades to existing lines for us. For bigger nations dedicated highspeed lines make sense. For us? 1. Expand electrification 2. Upgrade lines to ease curves & widen formations to permit the use of tilting technology 3. Upgrade signalling to permit faster and more frequent services 4. Strategic re-openings (Glenfarg & Strathmore routes spring to mind) and new 'cut off' higher speed routes (such as bypassing the slow, winding 'fife coast' route on the Scottish East coast mainline with a straighter, direct route to Kirkcaldy for express trains that will i) allow higher speeds & ii) stop express trains getting caught behind local, stopping services) This would allow us to shave 5 or 10 mins off journeys here and there over the course of decades - but in a country the size of our? with such a concentration of population centres? That has got to be the correct approach. We simply cannot financially justify brand new high speed lines - but we can financially justify electrification, improvement of alignments, signalling improvements & re-openings or cutoffs built where they need to be to gain higher speeds; avoid bottlenecking; serve new communities and; improve resilience by providing diversionary routes.

[@TalesOfWar]

I'd also compare them more with the 225's. They actually look like they can crash in to things and not splinter into a trillion shards like a 125 would. I love the 125 but it should be left in the past at this point. They're fast, dumb trains and were great for the time but they're well past their use by date in terms of safety. I was quite dismayed to hear Scot Rail bought a bunch of them that had been retired by operators in England. There's only so much you can do to improve them before you're essentially redesigning the whole thing.

[@Crazy-gy5jn]

Please do Norways train system or metro system in Oslo. Norway don’t get much attention so it would be much appreciated

[@Robert-nz2qw]

Haha. Just watching this. I’m a Swede and you premiered it on my birthday 🙂

[@jpbarbagelata4842]

I think that corrugated metal design looks so sick I hope they never change it

[@IntaminFanboy]

Really hoping the Pacific Northwest of the US/Canada takes this approach to HSR rather than the ‘superfast shiny object’ route that all too many places are entrances by!

[@TalesOfWar]

Sweden pretty much did the same as the UK with their network. They didn't want to invest in the fixed infrastructure because it would have been crazy expensive (and in the UK, WW2 really made such things difficult given the place was bankrupt), so they went with fancy tilting trains that could use the existing track and still reach reasonably good speeds. We developed the APT in the 70's and then sold all the patents to the Italians when the British press didn't like it (got to love the British press... scum) and the government decided to privatise things in the late 80's and early 90's. They then sold it back to us in the form of the Pendolino. Also like the UK, they didn't have it destroyed in the war by virtue of not being part of it (obviously the UK was involved in WW2, I just mean our train network wasn't completely demolished in bombing etc). There wasn't really a blank slate to work from like in say France and Germany where they went crazy with new high speed builds from the planning stage.

[@alvarogomezcampos7798]

You should take a look into the Málaga Metro (Spain). It's a light rail/light metro system and it just recently got an expansion

[@thejohanvalli]

It would also be interesting to made an video about finnish passenger railways, though true high speed in non-existent there, though VR operates small fleet of Italian Pendolino-trains. Over all Finland is difficult country for passenger trains, like Sweden, but finnish passenger trains are known about modern and spacious train cars. Finnish trains are also third best train service in European Union, if I remember correctly.

[@RKMa64]

We love 🇨🇦 too😎.and..your channel, Canadian Hockey and of course Danko Jones🎸

[@dominikrohal3664]

pls, Finland next

[@AdurianJ]

The Swedish rail network underwent a transformation in the 1980's starting the decade with 135km/h being the maximum speed on the network to 200km/h X2000 comming into service in 1990. In the coming years we will see a new line between Stockholm and Trindheim (Norway)as the norwegians are finally electrifying the final piece of railroad on their side of the border. Today the electrification ends at the border near a bunch of ski resorts but with this 100km electrification passenger numbers are expected to be much higher.

[@Valery0p5]

Some websites say the new government doesn't want any new high speed railway lines, is that true? Ps: I'm hoping to visit Sweden next year 😄

[@AdurianJ]

@@Valery0p5 Yes the project became too expensive so the overall project didn't get finacned in the coming 5+5 year inftrastructure budget. The govermnent is going to put funds into maintaining the current network and getting that to work better. This isn't such a big of all the fist part of the high speed rail speed was allrady cut to 250 km/h. And the first part of the plan will be built anyway which is the East-Link along the coast from south of Stockholm to Linköping. This was the best part of the high speed rail project as trains between Stockholm and Gothenbug and Stockholm Malmö will no longer have to share space on a dual track railway for about 100 km. It also cuts the distance for trains going from Stockholm via Linköping by 40 minutes. The East-Link is a new dual track railway in the first half replacing/complementign a single track old and slow line and in the second half it will effectivley create four tracks between Linköping and Norrköping increasing speed capacity. In my view the High Speed rail plan made little sense as the gain was quite small for the effort. The good bits of the plans can stand on their own anyway. In my view upgrading the existing lines is much cheaper and gives you more capacity as you go and not just at the end when everything is built. Besides the high speed network was supposed to take freight as which makes it far less usefull. A four track railway has 300% the capacity of two dual track one's because you can speed separate you trains. Also a Municipality outside gothenburg has been blocking four tracks into Gothenburg for decades which means train's from Stockholm have 10-20 minutes more travel time. As soon as that is done the high speed rail would only gain about 30 minutes, the old rail is shorter anyway. Though if you go by car you drive the route south of lake Vättern because there's four lane highways almost the whole way.

[@railvlogger1439]

I am sure the ' tilt train ' that operates from Brisbane to Cairns in Queensland, Australia is based on the X2000.

[@kingwacky184]

Is there a video of that train that I can watch? I am from Sweden and I would love to see the Australian tilt train you mention in your comment.

[@yannischupin7787]

I'd love to see a video on the new baltic railway, that is under construction because hsr is coming to Eastern Europe, and it'd be nice to see how...

[@willf1_15]

It's nice seeing the infrastructure that I grew up using! (:

[@tigersmess]

I live in Stockholm, i havent rode the SJ trains in years. I ride metro owned by SL sometimes and ride Roslagsbanan almost every day, also owned by SL. Its a light rails track, one of the worlds mos unique. SJ trains central is more like Stockholm City station. Malmö also has a really cool central called Triangeln that means triangle. Its cool trains they got but i like the Stockholm trafic more, the busses, trams, metro and light trains. I also like the Linköpings transportation company.

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

Roslagsbanan isn't light rail

[@treddevontopratz]

The New Right Wing Government Decided in early 2022 to Cancel the plans for High-speed exclusive tracks in Sweden. Some parts of it (Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport-Borås and Norrköping-Nyköping-Stockholm) are still in the middle of planning

[@lassepeterson2740]

Just wanna point out also that the x50 - x54 trains in Sweden are a foot and a half WIDER than the "huge" Toronto type GO trains and ride 200 kmh on the same standard track gauge .

[@rohanhalle580]

Meanwhile in the first place to have non-horse drawn trains "Diesel Electric, take it or leave it" (I am referring to Wales, not the UK in general (Trevithick came before Stephenson) )

[@holomode1357]

Small correction: a night-train from Berlin to Stockholm already exists

[@kafka9627]

we already have night trains to berlin!! Snälltåget go seasonally only in the summer but the SJ euronight goes year round!! or during some low season times it goes to hamburg instead

[@philthai99]

So very nice.

[@jerkorna4]

What is the name of the music/song that is playing between 7:45 and 10:10? I've tried finding what it is called but with no success! heard it many times and it's making me crazy when i can't find it

[@BlastedRodent]

I take the X2000 between Stockholm and Copenhagen often, and while I appreciate the speed and convenience, I definitely wish they had gone with something different than the tilting trains, because they give me motion sickness very easily. Protip: avoid reading, eating or really anything except sleeping or looking out the window on the stretch between Norrköping and Södertälje. It is easily the worst part of the journey, and once you feel bad on an X2000 it’s hard to shake.

[@REDnBLACKnRED]

I know many people dislike it but I somehow enjoy the tilting motion of the train. It's like a mini joyride. lol

[@zerocool6452]

They pretty much had to go with that solution so they could maintain high-speed through the journey due to tight curves. It can still do it do to the soft boggies it has but without the tilting you would be even more motion sick. Last summer I took the X2000 to Stockholm and the carrige I traveled in the tilting didn't work and the train still did 200 through the curves and it was literally like a roller coaster, coffee spilt and phones sliding everywhere, you went back and forth, it was hard toi stay in the seat. This can be solved by slowing down but the travel will take longer. The real solution is straither tracks but that won't happen so a refurbished X2000 is what we will get.

[@LinkStorm13]

I find it really bizzare, that the only high speed tracks (above 200km/h) in Sweden are a small piece soutwest of Stockholm, a large chunk of the track between Umea and Sundsvall waaay up in the north and most ridiculously the track between Kalix and Happaranda near the finish border, where there isn't even any passanger rail service. I don't mind HSR on 200km/h tracks. They are usually possible to build right next to older 160/120 km/h tracks and don't usually need a new corridor. Perfect to connect as many cities to a HSR network as possible. However, I 'd say a vast country like Sweden would have no problem doing so and connecting their remote cities with a reasonable speed to the population centers. I also dislike the fact, that the Fehmanbelt crossing is only going to 200km/h. Admittedley an awesome project and quite a bit faster than by car, but If you want to avoid inner-european flights from e.g. Hamburg to stockholm, 200km/h is not gonna do it.

[@michaelnajera7958]

Any chance you can do and part 2 video of spains high speed rail? The first video talked a lot about future plans and would love to see how they are progressing

[@RegebroRepairs]

It's the least appreciated because it is extremely underwhelming. Only 200km/h, and that's only for some bits. OK, fine, that was cool in the 1980s, but since then, nothing has improved. Sweden is BIG an desperately needs TGV style tracks, not these measly 250 km/h bandaids planned now.

[@NerdX151]

The proposed new Öresundstunnel (if it's even built) will never see highspeed trains. The section between Copenhagen and Elsinore is one of the most congested lines in Denmark with many stops and many trains each hour. It used to be serviced by the Öresund-trains and connected to the southern swedish regional network, which caused a weekly uproar from passengers because even the slightest delay in Sweden could cause the entire traffic on the line to collapse. There is no way this line could work for highspeed trains, and forget all about upgrading it to 4 tracks. This would require demolishing houses and mansions of the wealthiest people in the country, as well as tearing down miles of nature reserves. It ain't happening.

[@Swedey]

Oh hey, Sweden. The HSR is pretty slow and the rails need fixing, but at least it isn't Amtrak!

[@philipjohansson3949]

Watching this on a X2000 from Stockholm to Malmö!

[@steefant]

hm, you seem to have missed the partially newly built link between boden and haparanda (which will soon-ish make crossing to finland on rail only a thing again). it's also capable of 250km/h between kalix and haparanda.

[@ivanoffw]

8:50 What is that guy doing in the cab? Nice video.

[@automation7295]

Are you offended by what that guy is doing in the cab?

[@Brian_rock_railfan]

great video

[@flickrscreen]

It's a shame Oz can't/won't take Sweden's opportunistic approach on its eastern seaboard. Ironically, NSW hired three X2000 cars for two months in the 90s, trialling them between two of the HST-derived XPT power cars.

[@thatbooklover]

It's sad to see how much high speed track there is towards Umeå yet the trains operate incredibly slowly with a ton of long stops and waits due to the congestion of the one way track... I truly wish it could've been a viable option to take the train to Stockholm (or even further) but flights are still that much quicker

[@thedavvandavidowski]

So RMTransit, our government sadly decided to just half a year after your video (December 2022) to cancel the high speed project, so our country ain't that good anymore

[@Gfynbcyiokbg8710]

?? Ostlänken is still happening

[@thedavvandavidowski]

What? I read that the government decided to not do it

[@thedavvandavidowski]

Oh I mean the high speed that is Gothenburg-Jönköping, Malmö-Jönköping, Jönköping-Stocholm

[@michaellaudahn]

Try to see what YT subtitles make of your swedish name pronunciation... Please inform yourself about it such that it can be understood. 2:35 You can find Umeå (and many others) at WP, in global IPA script, whose major signs every edcuated person should be able to read. Some more: 5:35 ASEA is pronounced as one word, stressed on the SE syllable (speak the A's as in car); 7:13 Mälardalstrafik; 8:40 Krösatågen

[@macjonte]

What we need is capacity and reliability, not speed. double tracks so they can be maintained while the other is open, eliminating the need to shut down lines every longer weekend.

[@burhanbudak6041]

There is also a Stockholm Narvik train.

[@haweater1555]

Here in Canada, we would consider any electrified inter-city trains as "high(er) speed rail" compared to our own.

Has there been any updates to the railway projects under the new government?

[@Emierbeach]

Where did your other „High Speed Rail Explained“ videos go?

[@algwhat4847]

6:16 The regina trains alredy travel at 250 kp/h betven kalix and Haparanda/Torneå (Finland)

[@ludvigholst4767]

they dont

[@theobrudal9150]

Nice video!

[@cliffwoodbury5319]

in 12 years all the Nordic countries rail lines will be better known as the loop Europe wants to create will have a large percentage of its tracks in the nations. They say in 12 years you will be able to wake up in Berlin, attend a meeting in Stockholm, and then go threw the Baltics and have another meeting in Warsaw and be back in Berlin by night!!!! Hard to believe but sounds impressive!!! Then the Arcic rail corridor will be under construction around that time and the Nordic countries will be the first and last ports goods enter/depart thru arctic trade routes!!

[@leoaksil4085]

Where are the other videos?

[@timelapser5804]

M8! You forgot about the IC3 (big rubber nosed fellas). Although they are primarily used by DSB, they are highly used to connect Copenhagen with Sweden today, and I have personally used them to get to and from Halmstad, Helsingborg, and Mälmo. They have even been operated for Swedish train operations in Kalmar Iänstrafik/Transedev. They also have a huge export market history.

[@drdewott9154]

The trains crossing the Øresund bridge arent IC3's. They're another model called the X31 or ET class. Besides they dont qualify as high speed rail regardless as both it and the IC3 have a max speed of 180km/h, whereas the slowest high speed trains, including all those Reece mentioned, run at 200km/h.

[@gnhansen29]

Australia trialed their X2000 in 1995. I can't understand why the new NSW regional trains won't be getting tilting mechanisms

[@TalesOfWar]

Cost probably, or maybe the track alignments don't really benefit from it? The tilts are great for tracks with lots of curves. You can achieve the same speed advantages and ride comfort by changing the camber of the track itself where possible. All rolling stock benefits from it then too over a certain speed, so no need to bake it into the train.

[@thelegotechnicchannel1256]

200km/h is a local train in Germany lol

[@banana-bunny]

Finland is really being ignored huh

[@R4baDader]

The acela should’ve been an s2000. Not that weird mashup of TGV and pendolino that we got from bombardier

[@freja3187]

denmarks need to up there highspeed rail. i want the 3H model to aalborg

[@lleberghappy]

Nice video! No mention of the X3000.trains? Gång Sthlm to Umeå and Göteborg at least. Also new trains are on their way.

[@BrutalOddball]

Sadly Sweden's new right wing government decided to shut down most of the investment projects, citing 'high costs', so we'll probably continue to face desperate capacity problems and increased car and airplane use

[@alexandergustafson599]

And when it's about some highway project they don't bat an eye

[@BrutalOddball]

@@alexandergustafson599 indeed. Damn i would like to live in the utopia where I could go from Malmö to Stockholm in a little over two hours by train, or to Oslo in three and a half, but i guess it's more important to fail at getting into NATO...

[@TheAshKiwi]

New Zealand! Not high speed at all but scenic and difficult terrain.

[@user-od5eu8qb7q]

in sweden there are train that dosent stop more than 4 -6 times between citys

[@aggewijk4114]

3:36 That’s the station where I live

[@DasDnae]

Sad not to see any mentions of the route Stockholm - Oslo

[@Musta0011]

It's not high speed tracks only a very small part of it is 200 kph

[@jock364]

Since your narration is so full of facts and numbers, please consider a slower voice over.

[@NoName-iq3nc]

do a transit explained for melbourne

[@kax2137]

do a polands high speed railway explaind

[@robhobsweden]

There's a lot of resistance to build the "high speed" rail network (250/320kph), since the cost is too high for the benefit. Therefore there is a rather small but growing movement to push for transrapid maglev instead, mostly for the lower maintenance cost of the floating stock, but also much higher speeds, and less need for vehicles, since higher speeds get higher throughput per vehicle.

[@ThalassTKynn]

Would these kind of tilting high speed trains be useful in Canada? Or is the track not suitable for them?

[@vonnikon]

Tilting trains are a bit overrated. You can run at essentially the same speed without tilting. The tilting keeps your coffee nice and level. On the other hand, many suffer from motion sickness because of the tilting.

[@TheRandCrews]

They’ve tested the X2000 in 1993 when Amtrak was upgrading their Metronliner service in the Northeast Corridor and toured all over the US, then toured Canada for a bit

[@automation7295]

@@vonnikon But tilting trains allows them to run at higher speed around corners, also reducing the chance of derailment.

[@vonnikon]

@@automation7295 no. It is only a passenger comfort feature. It has nothing to do with derailment or achievable speed. We have both tilting X2000 and non-tilting MTR Express trains on the same line between Stockholm and Gothenburg. Both operate at 200km/h.

[@zerocool6452]

@@vonnikon Its rather yes and no. MTR Express can't do 200 in tight curves as which X2000 can since the latter has boggies that allowes for that where each axle follows the track together with the boggie, that is the technical reason. The tilting is there for passenger comfort as you say but without it you would need to slow down alot more Which MTR and all other trains already needs to do.