European Railroad Discussion > Sweden: Blue Train (Blå Tåget) Doubling

One of the interesting operators in Sweden is Blå Tåget (Blue Train) finding its heritage in famous blue trains in Europe aobut 100 years ago. These were luxury trains often painted blue and running long distance routes. Swedish Blue Train follows in the footsteps, except that it is also a budget priced train. To give you some perspective, the operator started enterprise with a group of people enjoying trains as a hobby! I remember reports how they tried to get (luxury) couches into the coaches, and in the end were forced to temporarily remove window glass to achieve that...   Company is mainly owned by same person(s) who own a shipping company. This is clearly visible in many details as you will later notice. (I wonder which shipping company owners as there does not seem to be information around on this fact?). Skandinaviska Jernbanene AB started their Blå Tåget from Gothenburg to Stockholm and further north to Uppsala, and back in the evening, in 2011. In 2012 they made about -60% loss on 1,5 million euro turnover, but already in 2013 turnover had grown to 3,2 million and profits were 4,5%. 2014 figures (before new operator MTR entered competition) were 4,2 million and profits over 7%. From the small train the operation has now grown to as long train as can be run between these two cities. From the early hired TRAXXion locomotives change has been to Vectron haulage (of Railpool loco in SJK colors). This is the European version of the North American ACS64.

Before continuing the story, let's take a look at Blue Train arriving to Hallsberg station enroute from Gothenburg to Stockholm. This is the maximum length of train and every single seat seemed to be booked this Saturday. In the first picture you can also see the typical older SJ regional or local train, leading Rc6 loco painted in typical shiny black livery.
 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/15 06:11 by McKey.

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Some details on the state of the art Siemens Vectron 64 AC. The relationship between companies North Rail and Railpool seems to be unclear from NR pages, but we can guess that Railpool might own NR.
 

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Behind the highly interesting locomotive there are many as interesting older cars in tip top condition. Two B5/B5C coaches have found a new life in this train.

If that is not a shipping company logo, what is it then...

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Not all the cars are from Norway and Sweden alone... the train took off quite fast so I did not have time for proper pics on all cars.

Blå Tåget earlier considered on running 5 week day train from Stockholm to Gothenburg, but this was mothballed as MTR entered the competition with Blå Tåget and SJ. Instead Skandinaviska Jerntåget bought a hotel in Stockholm.

However, now 6 months has passed, and it appears that Blå Tåget is starting another Gothenburg to Stockholm and back train. What an ingenious move! They now both have additional capacity (for packed trains) and failure redundancy (for both of the trains). It is said that this second train initially would be hauled by TRAXX F140 AC2 loco instead of Vectron or Norwegian El13 that SKJB uses for charters and freight. 

 



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/15 06:11 by McKey.

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Railpool is one of the largest locomotive leasing companies in Europe. They obviously own the locomotive and lease it to North Rail.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/10/15 11:58 by SOO6617.

Sounds like an interesting chain: Railpool leases loco to North Rail (which is a small company) which leases it to SKJB (Blå Tåget use) which runs it 5 times a week between two of the largest cities in Sweden ;) 

SOO6617 Wrote:
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> Railpool is one of the largest locomotive leasing
> companies in Europe. They obviously own the
> locomotive and lease it to North Rail.

And once this is discussed this kind of releasing seems to happen occasionally in Sweden. Swedes are very flexible in many ways, including business solutions.

Excellent coverage ...

Thnak you for positive feedback :)

YukonYeti Wrote:
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> Excellent coverage ...

Pretty blue cars...  

Ted in OR

And think how many more "preserved museum cars" there will as Blå Tåger will now grow! :D

gobbl3gook Wrote:
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> Pretty blue cars...  
>
> Ted in OR