Hi, I'm Lennart Harnefors, living in Västerås, Sweden. I'm a life-long railfan who early on developed a particular interest for North American railroading. In the late 80s and the 90s I made numerous trips to the US and Canada, many of them including travel on Amtrak and Via. For the time being, family obligations prevent overseas traveling, but I enjoy following what's happening, particularly the plans for expanding Amtrak's network.
New member from Sweden
- Thread starter selehar1
- Start date
Help Support Amtrak Unlimited Discussion Forum:
Welcome to Amtrak Unlimited
Welcome! You motivated me to look up a little Swedish geography. "The Mälaren Line (Swedish: Mälarbanan) is a railway line from Stockholm via Västerås [a city of about 128,000] to Örebro in Sweden. The section from Stockholm to Kolbäck and from Valskog to Arboga has double track. The line was upgraded to high-speed in 2005." Travel time to Stockholm is just under an hour. We at AU are envious.
oregon pioneer
Engineer
I was in Sweden many years ago. I took a little train that went up through the piney woods through Ostersund. It was just two cars, with a driver compartment at each end. It rocketed through the woods for many hours, just kept going overnight. I got all the way up to the Arctic Circle in time to eat cake with strawberries, and watch people dance around a maypole with ribbons. I went for a walk on the Kungsleden, then I got back on the train and continued into Norway. Fond memories!
I know Amtrak can't compare with Swedish trains, but I hope you enjoy the discussion here, and I hope you make it back to North America some time!
I know Amtrak can't compare with Swedish trains, but I hope you enjoy the discussion here, and I hope you make it back to North America some time!
I did the opposite of Oregon Pioneer's great trip. In August 1970 I rode the ferry from Copenhagen over to Malmo and had dinner with my date in the Opera House restaurant and then caught the hydrofoil back. The main thing that I recall is the shock to American eyes of seeing teenagers cruising on Saturday night in souped up Volvos.
It would have been nice to have seen more, but the U.S. Army was touchy about soldiers who made a one-way trip to Sweden. My leave papers only showed Denmark, but due to the customs union then in place, it was easy to sneak into Sweden.
It would have been nice to have seen more, but the U.S. Army was touchy about soldiers who made a one-way trip to Sweden. My leave papers only showed Denmark, but due to the customs union then in place, it was easy to sneak into Sweden.
Mrs. AmtrakMaineac and I have been planning a "bucket list" trip to the UK and Europe that would include a train trip to northern Norway /Sweden sometime in the fall to see the Northern Lights, but nothing definite yet as to which year, route etc.
Metra Electric Rider
Conductor
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2016
- Messages
- 1,795
Hej, välkommen - there are several Nordicists floating around here.
There are some plans for high speed rail in California, LA to San Francisco under construction, and LA to Las Vegas proposed by a private company called Brightline. We may join the 21st century yet.
Devil's Advocate
⠀⠀⠀
I've always been curious what foreigners think about Amtrak, especially if they're from another developed economy in Europe or Asia.
Amtrak’s long distance trains are pretty much unique in the world these days, Russia and China and perhaps some other Asian countries excepted. Particularly the EB, CZ, and SWC that run for two nights and daily. Australia still has some similar service, but it’s all less than daily, some just weekly. And in Canada it’s down to three overnight LDs, all less than daily.
Amtrak LD service is almost boutique service when compared to overnight Sleeper service in Continental Asia. That is a mass service.
