Lund tramway

There were plans in the late 19th and early 20th century to build a tramway in Lund as many other Swedish cities did around the same time, but these never materialized.^[9]

Plans for the so-called "Lundalänken" system started in the late 1980s, and the modern incarnation of the tramway began in 2003, with the bus route Lundalänken trafficking through the Lund University Central Hospital area and the Faculty of Engineering at the Lund University being designed with the possibility of future conversion into a tramway in mind.^[10][9] The system consisted of the city bus lines 6 and 20 as well as the regional bus lines 166 and 169. Formal planning for construction of the tramway began in 2010.^[11]

The issue of the tramway was a dominant issue in Lund's municipal politics during the 2010s, with political parties changing stances on the tramway throughout the period.^[12] The tram issue also led to the formation of a new local political party, with veteran Folkpartiet (Liberals) politician Sverker Oredsson among others forming Förnyalund (Renew Lund/For The New Lund) ahead of the 2014 elections.^[13]

Construction on the nearly 6-kilometre (3.7 mi) tram route to achieve faster and higher-capacity public transport between Lund Central Station and many of the largest workplaces in the city was formally approved in 2015.^[14][2]

In December 2015 a decision was made to construct a tramway between Lund Central Station and the European Spallation Source research centre.^[15] Construction was started on 15 February 2017.^[16] The contract with Skanska was signed in May 2016.^[17]

The municipality of Lund invested a total of about 890 million krona in the tramway project. The state of Sweden financed the project with a further 373 million krona through two national investments to develop lasting cities and public transport.^[18] This was in addition to the costs of the region: 297 million krona for the trams and 270 million krona for the depot. The total cost of the entire project amounted to approximately 1,500 million krona.^[19] The municipality of Lund also receives income from construction and marketing rights along the tramway.

In 2018 the right-wing coalition in control of the municipal government announced no expansion of trams would be planned for the rest of the 2018-2022 term.^[20]

Inauguration of the tramway was planned to occur on 12 December 2020 at an event where Johan Wester would be in attendance.^[21] These plans were foiled by the COVID-19 pandemic. The inauguration was held digitally instead, with traffic commencing on the next day.^[22]

The Lund tramway is a conventional electric tramway with bi-directional trams. The track width is 1435 mm. The trams are driven with a 750 volt direct current via overhead lines mounted 5.5 metres over the tracks without supporting lines.^[27] The Lund tramway is built without railway-type signals, but it can use normal street signals in street crossroads.

The trams are trafficked on right-hand traffic on a double track. The trams drive on a space almost exclusive to them, but they can intercept other traffic at crossroads. The buses that previously drove on the street S:t Laurentiigatan were moved permanently in December 2016 and now drive on the streets Spolegatan and Kung Oskars väg instead. The buses that previously drove at Lundalänken have also got new routes.

The trams pass under the street Tornavägen and the European route E22. The most of the tracks of the trams are on grass. There are nine stops with platforms 35 metres long. The municipality of Lund is responsible for the structure of the tramway, whereas the trams and the depot are owned by the region of Skåne (Scania), with the depot being located to the east of the north-eastern terminus ESS.

In December 2018 a contract was signed for the use of the latter of two sections by a depot in Brunshög in the service of the trams, traffic and the signal system. The delay of the order of the depot construction, about a year after the trams has meant that the tramway should be ready before construction is complete, and that the signal system that is to be placed there can not be completed. In October 2019 there was an announcement that the complicated nature of the project has meant a further delay.^[28]

The Lund tramway operates seven 33-metre-long low-floor trams of the model Urbos 100. The trams were ordered by Skånetrafiken in May 2018 from the Spanish company Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF). The tram were built in the CAF factory in Zaragoza, Spain.^[29] Each tram has a capacity of 200 passengers with 40 seats. The contract of the trams specifies ten years of maintenance. The trams have names, similarly to the Pågatåg trains of Skånetrafiken. The names were chosen from a survey from Lund's citizens in 2019 where citizens could propose names with a connection to the city.^[30] The first tram was named Åsa-Hanna,^[31] after Elin Wägner's 1917 novel. The other trams are named Sfinxen, Lindeman, Blåtand, Brandklipparen, Inferno and Saxo Grammaticus.^[32][33]

The first tram, Åsa-Hanna, was delivered to Lund on 29 July 2020.^[34] During the delivery, an older tram that was owned by the tramway museum in Malmköping was rented to be able to eventually assist Åsa-Hanna in traffic and at the depot.^[35] Åsa-Hanna was the first tram to undergo the first test route of the system on 17 August 2020. The last trams of the first contract were delivered in December 2020.^[36] At the start of the tram traffic, four trams had been delivered to lund: Åsa-Hanna, Sfinxen, Blåtand and Brandklipparen. Three of these trams were planned for passenger traffic on the traffic inauguration day on 13 December 2020, the fourth tram was planned as a reserve tram. By 1 February 2021 all seven trams were planned to be delivered and ready for traffic.^[37] This was not the case, as only four of the trams ordered by Skånetrafiken had been taken into use by summer 2022.^[38] Shortly after the change in schedule in August 2022 the remaining trams were ready for traffic, with the exception of Blåtand which had been damaged in an accident on Midsummer eve in the same year.

In autumn 2025 the tram Sfinxen returned to traffic after a minor revision. This revision included new stop buttons for the impaired on priority seats on each end of the tram. The idea is to have all the other trams also undergo such a revision, as a higher level of traffic security is required when the journey interval of 7.5 minutes will be introduced. This denser traffic also requires five of the seven trams to be in traffic simultaneously, in contrast to four at the present density of 10 minutes.^[39]

The Lund tramway is part of Skånetrafiken's city express concept called "Lundaexpressen". This concept as a whole is similar in design of the trams and their interiors to the Malmöexpressen and Helsingborgsexpressen.

The trams in Lund are equipped with more standing places than normal seats. The motivation for this is to ease traffic on the tramway so passengers stay on the tram for shorter distances, and also that the tram line passes by the Skåne University Hospital. Accessible seats and functions on the trams are marked with an orange colour whiule the rest of the interior of the tram is based on black and gray nuances.^[40]

Nine tram stops on the tram line are protected against the weather and are heated with radiation in wintertime. These stops have real-time displays of the tram traffic.^[41]

The Lund tramway has one line, with the line number 1. The trip from Lund C to ESS takes about 15 minutes.^[42] Since 20 August 2023 the tram traffic has been operated by Keolis.^[43] The drivers alternate between driving buses and driving trams.^[36] The traffic was previously operated by Vy Buss.

The tram schedule is at its shortest intervals of 7.5 minutes at peak times on weekdays, at 15 minutes in normal traffic and at 20 minutes in times of lower traffic. On Saturdays the trams have intervals of 15 minutes for the most of the day. On Sundays the trams have intervals of 20 minutes for the whole day.

• Lund C
• Lund University Central Hospital
• LTH
• Ideon Science Park
• Telefonplan
• Solbjer
• Brunnshögtorget
• MAX IV Laboratory
• ESS

In the idea and planning stage the project was met with criticism^[44] and protests^[45][46] among the citizens of Lund. The political parties were not unanimous and the Moderate Party,^[47] Förnyalund, the Christian Democrats, the Feminist Initiative, the Centre Party and the Sweden Democrats were opposed to the tramway.^[48] During the implementation phase the project overstepped its budget numerous times^[49] and the construction ended up costing about 130 million krona more than what was originally planned. The total sum ended up at about 900 million krona,^[49] compared to the 867 million^[50] that had originally been budgeted for the construction. In addition to this, the Skåne (Scania) region had to pay about 570 million krona for the trams themselves and for the new depot.^[49]

Since the beginning of the project, there have been plans to extend the system with a new line to neighbouring Staffanstorp as well as Dalby, Linero and Södra Sandby or to new developments to the North and East of the current endpoint at the European Spallation Source, and to Staffanstorp via Tetra Pak through the centre of Lund^[51][52], as well as to the west towards the municipalities of Lomma and Bjärred.^[53] No decision for future expansion was made in the overall plan in 2018.^[54]

The main boulevard of the planned area Västerbro is also being developed to have the ability to support light rail tracks in the future.

• 
  Tram track construction on the street Sankt Laurentigatan between Clemenstorget and the All Saints Church in August 2018.
• 
  The same track after one year.
• 
  A view from the driver's cabin towards the Lund C tram stop.
• 
  Interior of a tram.
• 
  "Blåtand" is lifted back on the tracks after a collision on Midsummer Day 2022.
• 
  The tram stop Brunnhöstorget.
• 
  The tram depot.