it is possible to travel to Sweden's three major cities (Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö) without changing trains. Waterways The first functioning canal through Södertälje was built between 1806 and 1819 after drawings by water engineering engineer Eric Nordewall. The canal has since been extended and broadened on several occasions. Within the scope of the Mälarprojektet initiative, the canal was expanded between 2016–2020 to handle vessels that are 160 meters long and 23 meters wide. The project encompassed a longer and wider lock, and dredging of the sides of the canal to make them straighter. The width of the water surface was thus kept unchanged. Every day, over 40 boats pass through Södertälje canal, carrying more than 5 million metric tonnes of goods each year. Of these, about 4 million tonnes are shipped into Lake Mälaren, and 1 million tonnes to the Baltic Sea. Primarily, coal, cement, iron, limestone and chalk are carried through the canal. The port of Södertälje also acts as a transhipment terminal from rail to trucks and ships. The port of Södertälje consists of four wharfs: Sydhamnen, Oljehamnen, Igelsta, and Uthamnen. Sydhamnen primarily handles containers and roll-on/roll-off cargo, including imported cars. The oldest wharf is Uthamnen. Here, smaller quantities of odd bulk cargo are handled, mainly road salt. Combustible goods are primarily transported to the Igelstahamnen to the Igelsta heating plant. Oljehamnen handles imports of gas, liquid chemicals, oil and similar products. Since the 1950s, the port of Södertälje has been important for the Swedish import of cars. About 80,000 cars are handled per year, which corresponds to about 30 percent of total national car imports. Cars shipped to Södertälje are of Volkswagen, Škoda, Audi, Ford, Porsche, Opel and Mercedes brands. City buses Owing to Södertälje's location close to a county border, both SL and Sörmlandstrafiken operate buses in the city. The city bus network consists of around fifteen bus lines. They use the Central Railway Station as hub. Before Järnagatan street became pedestrian, most buses would use that round through the city centre. Most now take Nygatan street. In addition to regular city buses, there are special services adapted to pensioners and people with disabilities known as Närtrafiken buses. Night services operate all night both weekends and weekdays. The city is served by two circular bus routes, one on each side of the canal. Economy Södertälje is particularly known for its two large companies, Astra Zeneca