Järvsö

This is my second trip to Järvsö zoo, last one about 1 year ago, at was covered on my blog.

 Today I'm taking same SJ Intercity train bound for Duved. Here is a view from last coach, somewhere between Stockholm and Uppsala.

 Stopping at Uppsala.

 My coach is of type AB7, and it is a mixed 1st and 2nd class coach. The coach was rebuilt around 2008, so it looks fresh inside.

 New breakfast is now being served in SJ trains. It have to be prepaid in advance.

 Passing by Dragon Gate

 Gävle station

 A freight railway yard in Gävle

 Bollnäs station

 Final stop for me is at Järvsö. Here is a view to the south.

 Train is moving on towards Ljusdal, Ånge, Östersund, Åre and Duvel.

 Entrance to Järvsö zoo, Järvzoo.

 The zoo is specialised in Nordic animals and it is open all year.

 The walking path around the zoo is 3km long.

 Owl

 Lynx

 Ski resort is just nearby, it can be viewed from the zoo.

 Since the bears in the zoo are hibernating during the winter, i could only see taxidermic bears.

 Back to Stockholm. First by a local X-Trafiken X50 train to Gävle.

 In Gävle, changing for another train.

 While waiting, had a chance to see another Intercity to Östersund. On a Saturday there are 2 trains on this route in each direction.

Vingåker

I'm back in Sweden, and the winter is at its peak. Today my stop is at Vingåker, the 10th largest town in Södermanlands län. It is located along the important Västra Stambanan railway, 152km from Stockholm and 303km from Göteborg.

 Most trains are passing here without stopping. 3 trains per day (on weekends) and 10 trains per day (weekdays) stops here as part of TIM line 6 Stockholm-Hallsberg (and sometimes to Karlstad).

 Today I had chance to see only non-stopping trains. Here is SJ Intercity 102 from Göteborg to Stockholm. The coaches are hauled by Rc6 locomotive.

 3 companies are operating on this route (Stockholm-Göteborg). SJ is operating services with X2 tilting high speed train (200km/h) and locomotive hauled Intercity (160km/h). Intercity train takes 3h 41min with 3 stops. Also there are Blå tåget and MTR Express trains.

 Local bus from Länstrafiken

 Vingåker station opened 1862

Today it is -10C during the day

 SJ Regional ticket machines are available on both platforms.

 To Hallsberg the price is 93SEK.

Track 3 for westbound trains

 SJ X2 train takes 3h 5min with 3 stops or 2h 50min without stopping.

Track 2 is missing platform and it is used for over taking trains in case a train is stopping at track 3.

In the winter it is actually possible to capture photos of moving trains and make them look moving (at least in the rear side)

X2 from the east

X2 from the west

2 X2 trains are meeting in Vingåker

 Blå tåget (Skandinaviska Jernbanor) is taking 3h 50min with 3 stops.

 The train is hauled by 193 "Vectron" locomotive. Older type of SJ/NSB coaches are used.

 Blå tåget is promoted as a luxury train, with a restaurant coach.

 While SJ Intercity train had only 5 coaches (2nd and 1st class), Blå tåget has 8 coaches, including 2nd, 1st, a Restaurant and Piano Bar coaches.

 MTR Express X74 takes 3h 19min with 3 stops, 14min longer than X2 due to non-tilting technology.

MTR Express is operating with 8 daily services (weekdays) compared to 18 daily services for SJ X2 (weekdays). SJ Intercity and Blå tåget have at most 2 daily services each.

The trains for the rest of this day

Tickets to Stockholm costs 174SEK