Stockholm trams cross new Lidingö bridge at last

Storstockholms Lokaltrafik (SL), the regional public transport authority for Sweden’s capital city and surroundings, operates a variety of tram lines, including line 21 to the island of Lidingö, built in 1907-1916. 

 

Originally the trams were carried across the Lilla Värtan waterway on ferries, but in 1925 a steel bridge was built to carry the trams and road traffic.  

 

In 1967, when Sweden changed the rule of the road to right hand running, tram service was cut back from the centre of Stockholm to Ropsten, where there was interchange with the T-bana metro. Road traffic moved to a new concrete bridge in 1971 while the trams continued to run across the old bridge. 

 

The 9.2km tramway was modernised in 2013-2015, with bus replacement for 2.5 years, and re-opened in October 2015 equipped with seven (late nine) new four-section 40m double-ended CAF Urbos AXL low-floor trams. Work to build a new tram bridge started in 2019 and was basically completed in 2022; however there was a dispute between SL and Lidingö municipality about electrical earthing safety standards on the new bridge that meant trams continued to cross the old bridge. 

 

In June 2023 this was declared unsafe and tramway operation cut back to run only on the island, with a bus shuttle to and from Ropsten. 

 

Finally the dispute was resolved and line 21 was extended across the new tram bridge to Ropsten on 26 May 2024. A 10-minute service is provided.