Swedens’s Iconic High-Speed Train! Is the X2000 Still Good 25 Years Later?
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- Опубліковано 9 бер 2024
- Today, I take you on a journey aboard Sweden's experimental high-speed train, employing state-of-the-art tilting technology. We will delve into its rich global history, noting that the train was even transported from the USA to Australia. Join me for a first-class experience as we assess if its quality after all these years.
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Train type: SJ X2000 (Unrefurbished)
Route: Stockholm C to Göteborg C
Train: 431
Distance: 457 km
Journey time: 3h01m
Average speed: 151 km/h
Price: 295 sek / 26 euro
FYI they are currently renovating and refurbishing all the X2000s. They are completely replacing the interior while giving the trains a fresher look on the outside.
Indeed and it looks great! Also mentioned in the video from 9:35 😄
And whats more that work include a fair bit of replacing and reorganization of the wiring...
They basically blows out the power unit and replaces wiring.
@@Simon-Andersen Oh sorry, it seems that I missed that part😅
Well they should focus solely on renovating the interiors. X2000 and X3000 have lousy seating for what they are. Trips longer than 90 minutes are a pain, hard seating, uncomfortable upholstery and poor luggage space. Even those times when you splurge on a first class ticket you don't get anything worthwhile extra for that except complimentary water and coffee/tea. The seats are still lousy and yet in many cases it's double the price of a normal ticket to buy a first class one, and that cost increase doesn't factor in that your route might require you to switch to other carriers for regional trains or busses, which don't even have first class accommodations.
@@OB1canblowme funny, i regularly travel X2 to Stockholm - and i like the seating.
I agree on the luggage side - but when it hits it when i travel for work - i have travelled with my own packaging, a IKEA bag for my work clothing and a backpack for tools....
And that is done when i'm away working on railway signalling eq.... multiple of my colleagues uses a car instead....
Hehe try entering Stocholm city with that type of luggage - the entry gates is narrow.....
I used to ride these in China in the 90s! They were called “Xinshisu” (new speed) and had a relatively plain red/blue livery.
I never rode in it, but I remember seeing it serving the Kowloon-Guangzhou through train in Hong Kong.
I love the grey-green / cyan-green seating color schemes, they give the whole cabin a relaxed and cozy mood!
I may be a bit biased, but I love the X2000 train, especially when travelling in first class. BTW, breakfast is included in a first class ticket if the departure is before 09:00 in the morning. Great deal!
The X2000 formerly operated on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Intercity Railway in China, directly serving the city centre stations of these two major cities. Today, the most common train type on this line between Guangzhou East and Shenzhen is the CRH1A (200km/h vmax version), one of the oldest of China's 'Hexie' high-speed-EMU series. This model is based on the Bombardier Regina platform, which also has Swedish roots.
Not to mention, in 2012 SJ was getting back its chinese X2000 to Uddevalla hamn. And later it got into the railway museum in Gävle for some reason.
@@Nationalbussen221 yes SJ got the unit back from China, with a intent of using it to allow them a bit of breating room with regards to utilization of the fleet. I believe the driving unit became the prototype for the current rebuilding.
I viewed the interior in the driver read end unit - it was a fair amount of mold on the inside...
The Chinese X2000 also served the Hong Kong to Guangzhou border-crossing intercity service known as the "through train". However, through trains have been suspended since COVID-19 pandemic started, and the high-speed rail from Shenzhen to West Kowloon Station replaced its role afterwards.
I believe the official "end of service" announcement is highly likely in near future.
It is because through train services cause a huge disruption on KCR East Rail (or East Rail Line as of today, I still prefer the former name) with their slow acceleration when compared to the original Metro-Cammell-manufactured and Alstom-refurbished EMUs, and later the SP1900 manufactured by Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Kinki Sharyo.
Most importantly, these Chinese trainsets are not compatible with Siemens Trainguard MT, which is installed in KCR East Rail and commenced into service in 2021. Officially ending the through train services will allow MTR to retire the outdated British Rail AWS after 40 years.
@@RicciChoi1109 The official "end of service" announcement of the "through train" on conventional rail was just made days ago. Regional through-train service was already replaced previously, and in the new announcements the long distance sleeper through-train services (Z99 to Shanghai and Z97 to Beijing) are replaced with new HSR sleeper night train services (D909 to Shanghai and D907 to Beijing), operated with CRH2E HSR sleeper EMUs. Travel time is almost cut in half, and MTR no longer needs to reserve a timetable slot for these two services (even though they're not operated since 2020). The new services are quite nice, because now one can actually get on the sleeper train at night and wake up in Hong Kong the next morning.
I'm currently studying to become a train driver in Stockholm, I hope I can give you a ride sometime after the exams next year!!
0:28 The person immortalized with a statue is Nils Ericsson, who is responsible for the construction of much of the railroad network in Sweden. He also constructed canals in Sweden and Finland. His brother was the more known John Ericsson who invented the first usable propeller, and constructed the first monitor ship, and almost beat Stephensons Rocket in a contest, among other things.
I've not been on one of the renovated sets yet, but I've seen them pass by when I'm waiting on my commuter train several times. The locos are noticeably quieter than the un-renovated ones, something to do with a modern cooling system for the engines/transformers replacing a ~1990 one.
Happy to learn that X2000 has many more years to run! Enjoyed the trip report!!
What better way to spend your Sunday than watching another one of Simon's travelogues?
2:05 minor correction, track 1-8 are accessed directly from the station building. In fact, track 8 is the northern part of track 10! However, track 1-7 are only available for trains starting in Stockholm going northbound or vice versa (essentially trains along Arlandabanan/Ostkustbanan or Mälarbanan), with a terminal station layout.
Ah yeah I could have made that more clear as you don't get the regular X2000 services to Gothenburg starting from those
@@Simon-Andersen yeah, I understand. Even though I often travel between Stockholm and Uppsala, I would probably also forget those northbound tracks if I were to describe Stockholm C 😅
@@toddetoddelito9959 Those tracks were commonly (at least by SJ employees) called "Uppsala-spåren", 'the Uppsala tracks', long ago (eighties - nineties).
The new dark gray livery on the power car is stunning and I'm glad that bleached out gray look has been sidetracked.
It looks amazing, I can't wait try one at some point
Nice to see you in Stockholm 🇸🇪 my hometown, Simon. A great video on the X2 as we call it 😎
New To Your Channel From The State's. Thank You So Much, I Enjoyed It Very Much With All The Information. This Channel Is A Keeper.
Thanks for the kind words :D
SJ also orderd new high speed trains that are supposed to go 250kmh. Got to go to SJ head office, they can go 300kmh but managers and engineers were annoyed that there isnt enough investment into the tracks if I remeber correctly. Seems like travel times will be cut further in the future hopefully!
Yeah. Sweden also has plans in the work called "Nya Stambanor" or "New Mainlines". These would be a brand new high speed rail network that would cut down journey times dramatically and make room for both more express trains between the cities, as well as more local and freight trains on the existing routes. However the plans have been put on hold by the current right wing government for frankly stupid reasons. And there are debates as to whether the speed of the new lines should be 320km/h as originally envisioned, or 250km/h which is slower but only marginally cheaper, and as such likely not giving the same returns on investment.
But thats not all. Sweden has been progressively upgrading the Västkustbanan between Malmö and Gothenburg for high speed standards at speeds of 200-250km/h. And in Northern Sweden, the Botniabanan and Norrbotniabanan havee both been vital projects under various stages of completion to have a 250km/h high speed line to the far north of the country.
Additionally there's also other proposals around like projects for 250km/h trains from Stockholm to Oslo, and upgrades between Gothenburg and Oslo.
I too hope all of these projects come to fruition and can benefit both domestic and international travellers across Scandinavia. However it all depends on politics sadly.
@@drdewott9154 Do you have any idea how expensive it is to build?
@@oyuyuy II do but thr value you get in return is super high
@@drdewott9154 The cost is much higher.
I'll put it in numbers for you, the cost is 25,000-50,000 SEK per Swedish tax payer. It is enormously expensive.
@@oyuyuy That actually ain't so bad given the cost of other infrastructure projects like the highways
Loved the video!
You just gained a sub!
Keep it up!
Awesome, thank you!
Very nice video
Absolutely loved the video ❤ Currently trying to plan a trip this summer to Karlstad and will have to go with SJ, might not be the x2000 but i still thought it informational :)
My stepdad works for Snälltågen so I personally, would love if it would be possible for you to review a trip from them :D
I already have! Its filmed with my old camera tho :-) ua-cam.com/video/I9SlWCMkNu0/v-deo.htmlsi=bg-PLnMFc8OF4wI3
Love these trains, spacious and comfortable. The seats remind me of the old GWR seats, before they changed to… the new ones.
The X2000 also test drove in Norway in 1996 to see if their railways were capable for tilting trains
I would assume this was the start of the BM73 unit which came a few years after which also have tilting.
The X2 is a wonderful train to drive 😁
Found it quite tight to sit on both this and other swedish trains... but gotta love the speed.
When these trains were new, with their very different appearance from the old trains, having a shape that made them look like crawling on the rail, and the glossy metallic..
The immediate response was the negative nickname "Silversnigel", 'Silver slug'. Also, because of the often occuring breaking of various stuff, the ironic "Super-snigel" was commonly used. Later referred to as only "Snigel", 'Slug'.
Another initially used nickname was "silverkuken", 'the silver dick', however that was just for a short while. I guess it disappeared when it wasn't fun anymore.
Intresting, its fun how new trains often get a bad rep but then later it turns out just fine
I associate the X2000 with that occasional long distance trip; I also once had the luck during the pandemic that one of these was running as a Regional in my route and sat in 1st class. Haven't had the chance of the new refurbished units. To be honest, this last year has been atrocious for Swedish railroads (infrastructure, vehicle and institutional failures) that a higher than 200kmh top speed line seems far fetched. AFAIK the new government abandoned the plan for the new high speed between Stockholm and Göteborg.
The age of the vehicles is lessening in importance; even the old IC's running locomotive + coaches are comfortale enough and quite reliable!
So bummed that the US never decided to adopt these for Amtrak. Oh well, the Acelas are pretty awesome in their own right.
The X2000 is seriosly one of my favourite modern trains
Not that modern right now but it will be
@@Musta0011 bruh… with modern I mean fully electrical locomotives built after 1990. My favourite kind of locomotives are sadly almost never built anymore. Damn those steamers were amazing
@@swedishbloke It was not built after the 1990s
the X2000 is my favorite train in the world. it's sad that you never get them in simulators.
A miracle that your train was on time it feels like that rarely happens
I travel relatively often between Malmö and Stockholm and I feel like the trains are usually on time except in the winters. In the past 3 years I've maybe had 5 significantly delayed trains and 2 cancellations of the 60+ journeys I have taken, and all of them mostly in the winter. It has been much more common to run into delays or cancellations of the commuter trains within Malmö or Stockholm region than it is with the inter-city SJ service.
I love the video- Are you danish?
Yes! 😄
@@Simon-Andersen 😄It was the perfec English paired with the pronounciation of Skövde and Göteborg😁
sGövde. Love it just like my finnish friends say it
I traveled in an X2000 with a broken/disabled tilting function once. They reduced the speed a bit but it was still fast enough that stuff would fly off the tables in every corner :P
I'm guessing most high speed trains don't need a tilting function since they travel on custom tracks with increased banking, while the X2000 is made for normal tracks.
Yeah I don't know what is cheaper. Building new track or developing a train that can drive quicker on old lines haha
I traveled in 1st class last summer which had its tilting funtion broken and they went full speed at first it was quite something I can tell you.
I used to work at SJ, in Hagalund's depot.
In the first years that happened much more often than now, and you could watch the train arriving, slightly tilting, and having a rhythmic sway 😂.
Another thing about that system is that the cars measured the load to calculate the tilting maneuver (at least they did!) and when that didn't work properly, sometimes it could tilt badly.
I reckon these were childhood illnesses mostly, but of course, things can always malfunction 😅
(The weight measurement system was humorously called "kärringräknare", not exactly translatable, but something like 'old (and ugly) women calculator'😂)
What an icon
Wooo Sweden!
They could export the LNER InterCity 225 sets over to Sweden, as they're pretty much identical to these...
They are quite nice but... there is a shortage of luggage space, and a lot of seats and windows are misaligned. I suspect that they stress the track by going round curves too fast and exerting a residual lateral force.
The concept of corrugated stainless bodyshells is excellent and means that the vehicles should last for 60 years. These are essentially locomotive powered push-pull units with flexible configurations.
What a difference from the horrible seats on the latest British inter-city trains.
Im going there in 3 weeks again as a swede i only been there once
I really miss it, but it left the Chinese market very early. Looking forward to its better development on the international stage.
The single row first class seats are perfect for a solo traveler like me. It's like riding a train in an armchair.
Only thing I would think to add: Do the seats recline? I want to be able to annoy the person sitting behind me.
The seat base slides forward, so the only one youre annoying would be your self.
Fun fact, the red buttons are just paint. Its fake. They are not buttons.
Then you might think "they are clearly working, i pressed and something happened"
Well.. you just been fooled by some clever Swedish engineers. There is a motion sensor mounted above with a very narrow lens pointed at the red paint that look like a button, that is actually activating doors and other stuff.
This way they didn´t need to have the door wired up in any way, and as a extra bonus its act like a crush protection.
They use the same sensor at the water in the bath room (but i do think the flush button is a real button, don´t quite remember)
That's not entirely correct. There are two types of internal door systems, the doors themselves look the same, but they function differently. The older system, from Dowald, has a functioning button, but the system is kind of unreliable and those doors are usually really slow. The newer system, from IFE, has sensors and a faux button. This system is more reliable and has way faster doors.
@@Rodoeht12345 then i never seen the older system. I just use to take ny hand close to the sensor. It react faster than at the buton.
@@matsv201Yeah, the newer system is more common, they have infrared sensors above the "buttons"
I know it is difficult, but any chance of a Refurbishment review? (I guess you need to wait for the train to arrive before buying the ticket, as they don't say which version it is)...
It will happen! Not sure when I'm gonna try and chase one again but it's high on my priority list 😁
Did you order vegetarian option???😮
Thanks for a wonderful video...
No there is plenty of meat on my dish, but you can if you want to :p
Perhaps you could also mention that there is decent WiFi connection inside the cars?
SJ has a whole new fleet on the way but I don't remember when they are supposed to be done.
Also, Ukraine's trains has been going more on time during the war then ours have this winter (Sweden).
Major problems every winter.
Not sure if the train itself is good. But the Swedish rail company is pretty bad at maintenance, so they break very often. And they only bring them in for "renovation" when there are regular fires onboard. And during renovation periods (usually several years) they use repainted slow trains instead. Creating a shortage of slow trains, causing other maintenance problems.
For anyone who is wondering how the Chinese X2000 looked like, here’s a video: ua-cam.com/video/ZFCeMx4lTYQ/v-deo.htmlsi=xKE9mX_0JYfNJ84C
joteboh. perfect pronounciation man!
🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
Good
Kan huske da jeg tog toget fra stockholm til kbh, og toget kom først 3 timer efter vi skulle havde kørt fra stationen, og så stoppede det i malmø så vi skulle skifte til øresundstoget 😭😭😭😭
det var især slemt at skulle vente 45min i lund for personaleskift.
8/10 would ride again
Ja det sker super ofte de slutter toget i Malmö hvis der bare er det mindste galt
These trains where tested in US too, but because of their lack electric grid for trains* they had to pull them with a diesel locomotive.
So X2000 wasn't a hit over there.
* = Yes I know they have but not as much as many other parts of the world.
They were popular on the NEC and were the best train for the role of the Acela service but Asea/ABB (which was at the time still independent of Bombardier) did not have the financing resources that the Bombardier LRC with Alstom TGV cars which Amtrak purchased. All thanks to the Canadian ExIm bank!
Im sorry - where do I find 1st class tickets for 295 kr?? The cheapest I can find is like 1000 kr
Probably not looking far enough in advance. 15th April last x2 of the day Stockholm - Göteborg is currently sitting at 295kr. It's not available on all departures and must be booked far in advance as explained in the video
Класс
0:41 Why isn't it called Stockholmstag instead? 🤔
look at this sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholmst%C3%A5g it was
@@tha_tram_manI mean that underground railway station known as "Stockholm City" 🐸
Assuming by "stag" you mean "stad", it is because in Swedish "city" is used to refer to the what you in British English call a city centre, or downtown in American English.
@@DodoGTA sorry it lookt like stockholmståg
SJ doesn't use Stockholms City (the underground commuter station) because of three things:
no capacity for long distance train down there
the platforms has security doors between carriage and passengers to prevent people from entering the track (and so the station restricts pretty hard what can use it it)
grades in northward direction - a X2 is built for high-speed and the traction isn't really there at low speed.
First Class lounge closed on Saturday? Why? First Class passengers don't travel on Saturday?
Sabbath 😅
Apparently not in Sweden 😆
How did bro say Skövde? Skövte?
🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰🇩🇰
26 Euro First class between Göteborg and Stockholm. I can guarantee you that you will never get under 100 Euro for this journey if Deutsche Bahn would operate it. And if you book closely near to departure you will at least pay 200 € - and to make it clear: This is just the normal price where you cannot change trains if you are late so you are not flexible or anything - it is a pain.
Same deal with the Swedish mostly. DB has good prices if you book in advance just like SJ. I have a 61 euro ticket in first from Copenhagen via Hamburg Magdeburg Wuppertal to Eindhoven booked with DB :)
Did you have any problems with the tilting? Kenny (or he's wife) do not have the stomach, for the tilting.
No I don't have any issues in tilting trains but it seems to vary alot from person to person
State of the art. 😂 The heart of the railway network is clearly HALLSBERG! Thre houses, a korvkiosk and a huge fuck-off station!And you forgot Bögringen/Spottkoppen at Stockholm C. 😂 I think platform 10 is reserved for the GBG line always.
(I never knew how much I needed to her a Danish person pronouncing “Skøvde” until you gave such a gift to my ears. Mange takk!)
(Platform 10 is not reserved for Gothenburg)
china and usa borrowed one each.... yea.... xd... bet they picked it apart by each screw before the they lent it back lol
X Late since 2000.
Did you even watch the video lol, my train was 7 minutes early
An old story is that China had, or would have, an X2000 for evaluation. Sweden expected China to pay for a train, they expected to get a train for free. No business was made then......
the trains are never in time anyway, better to fly
Yeah well except my flight to stockholm was late, but this train was 7 min early xd
To be honest the speed is not very impressive, compared to regional trains around Malmö, which normally cruse at 180 km/h.
But they dont tilt, so the x2000 still gets a journey time advantage as long as sweden keeps having curvy track.
Great train but low speed
0:06 "New, State of the Art"
The X2000 was built/designed in the 90's... I wouldn't call 30 year old technology "State of the Art"
Do you live in Sweden? Have you travelled on a X2000? Have you watched the video? This train was introduced 30 years ago and is still running operational today and even sold to other countries such as China and The US. For its time being manufactured I’d say it’s pretty state of the art and still is state of the art based on its capabilities, such as the tilting mechanism.
It was pretty state of the art the titling system it used when introduced. Sure the technology is older with the APT in the UK but how did that go again? You really only started seeing the technology actually mature and be reliable around the mid 80s early 90s 😀
@@Simon-AndersenSure you got a point but compared to many other countries except for dominant countries such as Japan the X2000 was pretty good at its time of initial production
Kalmar Verkstad & ASEA is not ABB. ASEA & brown merged and became ABB.
By the way, you absolutely misprounounced and butchrued every swedish town name. But i forgive you, as you sound danish! Aint your fualt you can't speak properly ;)
Greetings from sweden
No attempt was made to sound like a swede :p Thanks for the correction on the mergers