Swedish national rail company SJ was chosen as the future operator of the Øresundståg cross-border train service. Since December 2020 it will run the trains through the Øresund Bridge together with Danish State Railways (DSB). And in 2023 SJ will become the sole operator of Øresundståg service.

The operating contract covers eight years with the option for an additional two years. The document will be implemented with a new train schedule in December 2020. The agreement includes the train traffic operation across the Øresund Bridge, onboard services, rolling stock maintenance and other options like lost property management.

SJ should maintain 111 three-car electric trainsets of the type X31 developed by ADtranz (now it is a part of Bombardier Transportation). The new maintenance hall is being constructed now in the Swedish municipality of Hässleholm instead of the Danish facility.

Transdev replacement

Initially, SJ will replace Transdev that operates Øresundståg trains mostly on the Swedish side. The French passenger operator has stuff of approximately 600 employees involved in the Øresundståg service. This personnel will be transferred to SJ. Moreover, the Swedish company plans to hire 200 additional employees to increase the train frequency and launch new routes.

Øresundståg routes

The Øresundståg service was launched in 1999 with an opening of the combined bridge across the Øresund strait. Today, its network includes several routes. The main link runs from Malmö in Sweden to Helsingør in Denmark (north of Copenhagen) via Copenhagen and the Copenhagen airport. Three other routes are located on the Swedish side. They connect Malmö with Göteborg, Kalmar and Karlskrona.