A white Wild West, not for its vastness, but for its wild nature. Miles of snow-covered pine and fir forests. Frozen lakes as far as the eye can see, few houses, only a few hills to give a little relief and roundness to the landscape. You have to like repetition, to experience this change of scenery, and above all take your time.
This is the secret of this trip aboard the Snötaget, the snow train. A journey that begins in Mora, in the middle of Sweden. A small town known for the Vasaloppet, the kingdom’s most popular annual cross-country ski race. A route of approximately 90 kilometers between Malung-Sälen and Mora. In this month of March, everything is ready, stands and banners, to welcome the 16,000 skiers and celebrate its 100th anniversary.
The station is teeming with people. Our train is an old red and white carriage the likes of which you no longer see. It stands out in this landscape from which modern trains depart for Stockholm. Pelle Björkman is one of its drivers. His gray beard is as long as his years on the Inlandsbanan. A train of yesteryear that narrowly escaped the siding. The line was created at the end of the XIXand century in order to open a way of communication from south to north, in the middle of the wild lands, hence its name, Inlandsbanan, “the way of the interior”.
The line, completed in 1937, experienced difficulties in the 1960s with the advent of the car. It reopened in 2012 thanks to the fight led by the nineteen municipalities it serves. Since then, the Inlandsbanan has experienced a seasonal rhythm: in summer, it crosses, from south to north, 1,299 kilometers between Mora and Gällivare in two days; in winter, it turns into a snow train, the Snötaget, and stops in Östersund, ie 596 kilometers in one day.
out of time
For us it will be five days with the Snötaget. Travel time; that of strolling, which allows you to laze around, dream and randomly point to a station on the map to stop there for the night. Ours are called Orsa, Arsana and Östersund. We are about ten travelers in the single wagon. Mélanie and Éloise Warenbourg, two French women, track the northern lights of Abisko in Lapland. In Östersund, they will board another train to reach the Far North. “I feel like I’m out of time and it’s weird to see the faces”, says Mélanie, masks are not compulsory in Sweden.
Fredrik Olofsson is a controller, he has been working on this line for two months. He gives some instructions then comments with humor on the landscapes crossed. The train honks strangely all the time: Pelle Björkman, the driver, tells us that it is to warn wild animals, cars and snowmobiles of our arrival. There are very few barriers, except in Sveg, where the bridge is used by other vehicles. From his cabin, he is proud to show us the black box that allows the barrier to be raised and lowered.
You have 63.4% of this article left to read. The following is for subscribers only.