Tvärbanan

Tvärbanan (lit. 'the Transverse Line') is a light rail line in Stockholm, Sweden, which runs largely in a semicircle south, west and north around central Stockholm - crosswise to the otherwise radial metro and commuter rail lines of Stockholm. It links together several transit lines through its connections with the southern, western and northern metro branches of the Stockholm Metro (Tunnelbana) as well as three branches of the Stockholm commuter rail (Pendeltåg).

The ability to travel between southern, western and northern greater Stockholm without having to enter the city centre significantly reduces the number of transit passengers, also reducing the number of trains having to pass through Gamla Stan bottleneck during peak hours. The tramway is separated from roads in most parts, but there are sections in Gröndal, Sundbyberg and Solna where the tracks run on roads among regular road traffic. In Hammarby sjöstad the trams run in a reservation in the centre of the road rather than in mixed traffic, but there are several level crossings. Near Liljeholmen the track is shared with freight traffic for a short section, this being the only place in Sweden where freight traffic and trams share the same track.

Traffic on Tvärbanan started in 2000, first between Gullmarsplan and Liljeholmen, then later between Liljeholmen and Alvik, in 2002 between Gullmarsplan and Sickla Udde, and in 2013 between Alvik and Solna centrum. It has later been extended to Solna Station (2014), Sickla (2017) and most recently, Bromma Airport (2021), the last of which being the first part of the new Kista branch. Tvärbanan was used by around 108,000 passengers per weekday in 2019.

The bridges used by Tvärbanan include Alviksbron, Gröndalsbron, Fredriksdalsbron and Ulvsundabron.