Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Sweden Rails


SJ AB is a government-owned passenger train operator in Sweden. SJ was created in 2000, out of the public transport division of Statens Järnvägar ('The State's Railways', also commonly known as SJ), when the former government agency 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 2000 high-speed train 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, Banverket.

In co-operation with Tradera (Swedish eBay), SJ auctions surplus tickets on-line.

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