Kontinentalbanan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Kontinentalbanan | |
| Info | |
|---|---|
| Type | Railway |
| System | Swedish railways |
| Terminals | Malmö C Trelleborg F |
| Operation | |
| Opened | 1898 |
| Owner | Banverket |
| Operator(s) | Green Cargo SJ Skåne commuter rail Danske Statsbaner |
| Character | Freight and passenger |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 32 km |
| Track length | 39 km |
| No. of tracks | Double or Single |
| Gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8½ in) |
| Electrification | 15 kV 16⅔ Hz AC |
Kontinentalbanan or the Continental Line is a railway between Malmö and Trelleborg in Sweden. At Trelleborg the railway terminates at a railway ferry quay allowing rail cars to be ferried to Sassnitz in Germany. The railway is also part of the line between Malmö and Copenhagen via the Oresund Bridge. The first seven kilometers of the line are double track.
[edit] History
At first called Malmö-Kontinentens Järnväg, the railway was opened in 1898 and was initially thought of as an extension of Södra Stambanan southwards. The line replaced an old railway between Malmö and Trelleborg, the Malmö-Trelleborg Railway, which didn't have good enough standard for the traffic. The ferry traffic service started in 1909, the same year it was nationalized. It was electrified in 1933. In the 1950s the seven kilometers between Malmö and Lockarp were rebuilt to double track.
Most of the international trains on the railway were foreign, and until the 1970s there were direct trains from Malmö to Berlin (operated by Deutsche Reichsbahn), Moscow (operated by the Russian Railways), Hamburg (operated by Deutsche Bundesbahn) and Praha.
[edit] External links
- Järnväg.net entry on Kontinentalbanan (Swedish)
- Banverket entry on Kontinentalbanan (Swedish)
