About this journey

The departure is from Stockholm Central Station, which opened on 18 July 1871 and remains the largest railway station in Sweden by passenger numbers and train traffic. The northern part of the station serves as a terminal for the Mälarbanan, the first of two lines covered on this journey, carrying the X55 westward out of the Swedish capital.

The Mälarbanan gives way to the Bergslagsbanan, a line with roots in Sweden's industrial interior. Construction began in 1855 and the line opened in 1879, built largely to serve the Bergslagen mining region. The Bergslagsbanan consists of two sections meeting at Ställdalen: one running north toward Gävle via Falun, and one continuing south to Frövi. Freight traffic remains the line's primary purpose, with trains routing toward Gothenburg, into Värmland, or westward into Norway — a role reinforced in 2017 when the Kil–Ställdalen section was upgraded to ATC, allowing freight a direct shortcut that had previously required a lengthy detour via Hallsberg. Passenger services on the line are sparse by comparison.

The journey ends at Ställdalen, the junction point where those two sections of the Bergslagsbanan divide. The ride as a whole moves from one of Scandinavia's busiest rail hubs into a corridor where freight long ago eclipsed the passenger timetable.