Skövde – Karlsborg railway line

Skövde – Karlsborg
Karlsborgsbanan near Mölltorp (2006)
Route number :	78
Course book range :	64 (1982)
Route length:	45 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Power system :	15 kV 16 Hz  ~
Legend Motala (until 1937) 358,350 Rödesunds hamn (until 1937) 357,526 today's end of the route 357.032 Karlsborg Karlsborgs fästning (3 km) 349.634 Mölltorp 347,700 Mölltorps grusgrop 345,700 Marhultsby 344,220 Osterbo 341,957 Fagersanna 340.824 Perstorpsgård 339,585 Örlebadet (from 1934) 339,400 Fagersanna grusgrop 338,530 Örlebadet 1932-1934 337,000 Karlshagaby 332,702 Tibro 330.945 Tidan 330,700 Balteryd 326,200 Kungsryd 321.138 Igelstorp 318,000 Husebygård (from 1944) Ösan Västra stambanan from Hallsberg 313.173 Skovde Västra stambanan to Gothenburg C Swell:

The Skövde – Karlsborg railway , known in Swedish as Karlsborgsbanan , is a single-track, standard-gauge and electrified railway line in Västra Götalands län in Sweden . It leads from Skövde to Karlsborg .

history

The railway line was built by the Swedish state and officially put into operation on July 27, 1876 for passenger and freight traffic. Statens Järnvägar took over the management .

The branch line was built to facilitate the traffic connection to the Karlsborg Fortress . Construction of the fortress began in 1820. It was not put into operation until 1909, because before that it was not finished in accordance with the original plans. The fortress is located in the middle of the country, but the idea at the time was to strengthen the so-called "central defense". In case of war, the Swedish government should move here. The city therefore still calls itself “Sweden's reserve capital”. As early as 1925, the fortress was no longer used in this function by the military.

Without the fortress, Karlsborg remained a garrison town and industrial companies set up shop in the towns along the route, especially in Tibro . They were all customers of the newly built railroad. Some passenger trains went to Rödesunds hamn, where there was a boat connection over the Vättern to Motala . This passenger traffic ended in 1937 when the line was electrified. The route to the port was dismantled in 1979.

The train station in Karlsborg was demolished in 2017.

Train operation

The passenger trains were driven by railcars from the 1960s . For many years type X16 / X17 electric multiple units were used, in the last years of operation the type Y7 diesel multiple units took over the passenger trains .

Electric locomotives of the type Hg were used in freight transport . In 1986 the passenger traffic was stopped, in 1993 the freight trains ended.

Skövde-Karlsborgs Järnvägs AB

A private company with a single employee, Skövde-Karlsborgs Järnvägs AB , a subsidiary of Falkendal Förvaltning AB , took over freight transport in 1995 with the diesel locomotive Z65 583 , but only operated it for a few years. The maintenance of the Tibro – Karlsborg section ended on February 27, 2003 ( Upphörande av underhåll ). In 2005 the last wagon loads were delivered on the Skövde – Tibro section.

Shutdown

In a letter dated August 21, 2008, Banverket announced the completion of the entire route with the partial measures of the closure of the section between Tibro and Karlsborg and the suspension of maintenance for the Skövde – Tibro section. The reason was that in the last few years the volume of goods mainly consisted of chipboard transports to Tibro for further transport to the furniture industry from Gyllensvan in Kättillstorp outside of Falköping, which are now handled in Falköping. The last transport took place between Christmas and New Year 2005.

Since 1986, only museum trips with around 10 to 20 trips per year have been carried out in passenger train traffic.

The only users in the Karlsborg municipality were the Swedish armed forces, which used to transport tanks to and from Mölltorp. The armed forces have largely reduced their presence in Karlsborg, which is why the transports are no longer relevant.

This was linked to the offer to private customers to take over the route and continue to operate it. The shutdown can be decided three years after the maintenance work has ceased.

The tracks are still there.

Trafikverket plans to demolish the route. The Tibro – Karlsborg section was officially closed in 2010 and the Skövde – Tibro section followed at the end of 2018. The line has been without maintenance since 2010 and is in poor condition. After that, the entire site is sold, which can then be used for pedestrian and cycle paths as well as local roads. It is planned. To begin demolition in 2022, which should be completed in 2023.

Future considerations

The Föreningen Svenska Järnvägsfrämjandet , a politically and economically independent national organization and was founded in 2005 Föreningen Karlsborgsbanan want to achieve the resumption of operation on the route Skövde-Karl Borg. Västra Götalandsregionen has now investigated the possibility of reactivation, with positive findings such as a shorter travel time in passenger traffic that would speak in favor of restarting.

However, this is contradicted by the fact that two of the communities affected are not interested. This became evident after Trafikverket announced the completion of the route - i.e. the dismantling and removal of the track systems. While Karlsborg appealed and asked for further investigations into recommissioning, Skövde and Tibro had no objections to the dismantling. However, it appears that the route is being "processed". Regardless of the possible traffic potential, significant investments in the infrastructure would be necessary to restore the route to an operational condition.

Rough estimates showed that SEK 264 million would be required for the renewal of the superstructure with completely welded rails, i.e. six million per kilometer. The cost of replacing the overhead line would be between 50 and 100 million crowns. In addition, there would be costs for the redesign of road / rail crossings to enable train speeds of up to 180 km / h.

Web links

• Skövde – Tibro – Karlsborg. In: jarnvag.net. (Swedish). 

Individual evidence

1. ^ Association of Central European Railway Administrations (ed.): Station directory of the European railways . (formerly Dr. Koch's station directory). Barthol & Co., Berlin-Wilmersdorf 1939.
2. ↑ Skövde – Karlsborg. Bandel 439, SJ district II. In: banvakt.se. Retrieved August 8, 2020 (Swedish). 
3. ^ Skövde-Karlsborgs Järnväg Aktiebolag. In: allabolag.se. Retrieved August 8, 2020 (Swedish). 
4. ↑ ^{a b c d} Individual references commented out, source cannot be found without URL !!!
5. ↑ Inge Vierth: Uppföljning av avregelingen av godstrafi kenpå järnväg. (PDF) p. 22 , accessed on August 8, 2020 (Swedish, VTI rapport 741). 
6. ↑ Traffic measures in Tibro from November 3, 2003 (Swedish: PDF; 783 kB).
7. ↑ uppehåll av underhåll på på Karlsborgsbanan sträckan Tibro-Karl Borg. In: Hällekis-Kuriren. March 11, 2003, accessed August 8, 2020 (Swedish). 
8. ↑ Rivning av Karlsborgsbanan, volume 541. In: trafikverket.se. Retrieved August 8, 2020 (Swedish). 
9. ^ Anna Nyberg: Alliansen vill öppna Karlsborgsbanan. In: sverigesradio.se. March 2, 2010, accessed August 8, 2020 (Swedish). 
10. ↑ Karlsborgsbanan - potential för framtida person- och godstransporter. In: Västra Götalandsregionen. June 2012, archived from the original on March 19, 2018 ; Retrieved August 8, 2020 (Swedish). 
11. ↑ Birger Tiberg: Karlsborgsbanan. Förslag till återupptagen tågtrafik. In: jarnvag.ch. July 14, 2019, accessed August 8, 2020 (Swedish). 
12. ↑ Olle Ek, Ingemar Lundin, Eje Larsson, Bernt Nielsen: Den nya Karlsborgsbanan. In: jarnvag.ch. August 7, 2014, accessed August 8, 2020 (Swedish).