Through Stockholm
by Railbike
June 18, 2006
by Arne Nilsson
Making the Impossible Possible
This story is about a unique railbike trip on June 18, 2006 right through the center of Stockholm on the busiest track in all of Sweden. The only thing perhaps more fantastic than the ride itself is how it was made possible, so let’s first spend a few words on that.
One evening last winter when I was having dinner with my brother Åke he suddenly says (as I recall it): “Arne, make sure all your railbikes are in a good condition by June, because then you will have the opportunity to railbike from Älvsjö (just South of Stockholm) to Värtan (a harbour in Eastern Stockholm). You can bring along as many friends as you have bikes”. At first it was hard to take in what Åke was saying because it was insane! He was talking about a stretch of track that carries several hundreds of trains every day, but after he had explained it carefully I slowly realized what I was up to.
Oh Brother, where art thou?
In Sweden the State owns and maintains the entire rail infrastructure through the Rail Authority which sells time slots to different train operators. In a very clever letter Åke had proposed to the Authority that they sell him a timeslot through Stockholm to be used by a railbiking party celebrating my 60th birthday. To his big surprise they agreed after
some negotiations! They could not find a paragraph that outright prohibited such use of the rails as long as a person from the Authority joined us. The people that Åke had contacted chose to be favorable to his unusual request rather than just say no which would have been so much easier for them.
The standard fee for a time slot is based on factors like distance, number of axles and any electricity used by a locomotive. However the Authority realized that even the minimum tariff applied on a group of railbikes would be quite expensive, so they offered us to pay only for the time and material used by our escort. After all they said this was the first and last time they were ever going to engage in anything like this. Later as it turned out, the escort grew to two persons in a Maintenance of Way (MOW) locomotive in which also those of us who didn’t pedal could ride, which made the journey even better. In the end the Authority also decided it was too much trouble for them to figure out the right price and write an invoice, so they generously offered it all to us for free – all the man hours, fuel, and the use of a locomotive and the rails! It is hard to believe I am describing a government agency, isn’t it?
The MOW escort locomotive.
The Route
Our trip was to take place during the early hours of a summer Sunday when traffic is low. In June sun rises around 3 AM in Sweden, and we would only ride in the dark for an hour or so. In total the trip was about 16 kilometers.
Our route through Stockholm from Google Earth.
Rolling stock
Since we were to ride on very shiny rails that in addition have a few lubricators I was triggered to finish my dragging project for rear wheel guides on my two folding bikes. In addition we could use my four old fashioned railbikes (dressin in Swedish) that have flanged steel wheels. We borrowed an additional dressin from the Rail Authority, which gave us seven bikes in total.
Getting organized
We organized ourselves in groups for different tasks: nine of us were railbikers some only part time, we all rode in the locomotive on and off, two shuttled cars, two prepared breakfast, and three formed a film team that recorded the event from selected spots along the route. We mounted film cameras on both ends of the locomotive to get in-motion shots.
Arne giving "expert" instructions.
All set
By the time we had all the bikes on track with adjusted wheels (I am a bit finical about that) and all saddles set to the right height for each rider, the clock was nearing 2 AM. One of the officials gave us a safety lesson and Åke read us a very appropriate poem. The track to the far left was reserved for us and no trains were scheduled on the one next to it; furthermore the traffic controllers would inform our escort well in advance of any matter that would affect our safety or comfort.
We were now seven railbikers dressed in safety vests awaiting clearance from the CTC. I was of course leading the group on a folding bike and Åke was trailing showing a blinking red light to the rear just
Leaving Älvsjö with a commuter train in the background.
like a real train. In order to be visible from the locomotive he also carried a headlamp. In between were five dressins two of them with lady riders. About a hundred meters ahead of us the yellow diesel was idling reassuringly.
Älvsjö – Södra Station
Finally we received GO and the party carefully started to move – for some this was their maiden railbike ride. Over the years I have been on this track hundreds of times coming by train from Gothenburg to work in Stockholm, but railbiking on it was so much cooler! The locomotive kept a good distance to us but we met at agreed points do go through the details of the next section of the trip.
The first switch showed up only about 100 meters from start. It turned out we had about forty more switches ahead of us, before we reached the single track section to Värtan which had only a few.
For the first four kilometres or so the line are four to six tracks wide with several flyovers – quite an impressive track work especially seen from a railbike. To my relief everything went well without derailments or mechanical problems
Our first photo stop was on one of two parallel high bridges leading in to Stockholm proper. The time was now about 3 AM and from the bridge we enjoyed a beautiful dawn.
Almost 40 switches really slowed us down.
The old Årsta bridge.
From here it was only a short distance to the next stop at Södra Station (the South Station). This is a modern covered station and from here on to the Central Station there are only two tracks which are referred to as the “wasp waist”. There simply isn’t room for more than two tracks among the old buildings through the central part of Stockholm.
Entering Södra Station
Click here to continue Through Stockholm.
