Mariestad, Lidköping

Today I'm travelling along Kinekullebanan, a 121km non-electrified railway between Gårdsjö and Håkantorp. I will make stops in Mariestad and Lidköping.

Kinekullebanan is operated by Västtåg. The line is operated from Hallsberg to Mariestad, so I arrive to Hallsberg with this X2 train. Normally X2 trains do not stop here, but the services to/from Oslo does.

Hallsberg is one of the busiest station in Sweden, in terms of passing by passenger and freight trains.

RRS 42033 freight train from Luleå to Nässjö is passing by. Real Rail Sweden is using Green Cargo locomotives, here they are Rc4 1143 and Rc4 1310

Hector Rail 242.531 "La Motta" is arriving to Hallsberg. It is train 17074 from Göteborg to Stockholm, operated by Skandinaviska Jernbanor, aka "Blå tåget".

Restaurant coach WRmz

Another open access operator on the route Stockholm-Göteborg is MTR Express

Västtåg is operating the line with diesel cars Y1 and Y31/Y32.

Y1 1272 manufactured in 1980 by FIAT

AFM7, Y1 and X40

X2 and X40

Green Cargo train 9640 from Hallsberg to Fliskär (Gävle)

Rc4 1254

Hector Rail 441.002-5 "Croft"

The train is a Siemens Eurosprinter ES 64 F4

Inside Y1 Västtåg

Traxx F140 AC2 from Alpha Trains, hired to Hector Rail

Hector Rail 143.060 "Jernsida", former Rc3

Traxx F160 AC3 Last Mile from Railpool, they were ordered for Scandinavian countries from Bombardier in 2015

Our train is taking freight rail route before entering Västra Stambanan

Laxå

Gårdsjö

Hova

Göta kanal

Västtrafik card machine

The train has arrived to Mariestad

It is necessary to change trains here in Mariestad in order to continue on Kinnekullebanan.

Mariestad station

The train from Göteborg is arriving

Y31 1419

Y31 "Itino" is 30 year younger train than Y1.

Y31

The only seats in the train with full window view

Forshem

TMY 1111 from Svensk Tågkraft, as train number 73886 from Gårdsjö to Herrljunga

Railhead Treatment Train uses a high-pressure water jet to remove compressed leaf mulch from the rails

Hällekis

I have arrived to Lidköping

Another Y31 1417 is leaving for Mariestad

Bridge over Lidan river

Lidköping station

"Sara Videbeck" statue

Water tower

Lidköping harbour is one of the largest in lake Vänern

Street art

New train depot

My next train is arriving from Mariestad

Järpås

At Håkantorp, Kinnekullebanan is ending and the train is switching to Älvsborgsbanan

Vara

Vedum

Herrljunga

X74

It's a longer stop here in Herrljunga, our train has to let this MTR Express pass in front

Alingsås

There is project ongoing here in Alingsås in order to increase the capacity at the station

"Lights in Alingsås" festival which I will try to visit next year

X50 will be my next train to Göteborg

My train back to Stockholm is MTR Express