The nationalization of the railroad in Sweden
In a Parliamentary decision 1939 it was decided that all railroads i Sweden should be nationalized. You can always discussed if this was good or bad. But it's a fact, without the nationalization of the railroads many should be closed many years earlier.
After the second world war the motoring became a very hard competitor to the railroads and many small railroads company couldn't afford to renew their engines and coaches or to rationalize into new technology, new railbuses for example.. .

The first decision to close down
Shortly after the second world war the first closure begun. In 1945 the part Torved - Gullspång were closed and in 1953 followed by Tumleberg - Håkantorp. Also Skara - Timmersdala (fd STJ) was closed, finally after a long period of fading existence.

The widening of the northern part
During the 1960-ies a widening was started on the part Håkantorp - Lidköping - Mariestad - Gårdsjö to the standard gauge (1435 mm) instead of the narrow gauge (891 mm). As a result all heavy freight trains with lime and cement was moved to the standard gauge and the freight traffic on the former VGJ decreased dramatically.
In 1961 the part Lidköping - Skara Stenstorp and Skövde - Axvall and in 1968 the part Trollhättan - Nossebro were closed.

The shortening of the southern part
In the middle of 1960-ies it was discussed what it would become of the southern part of the railroad, the part nearest to Göteborg.
On the part between Sjövik - Gråbo - Göteborg the cummuter traffic was sometomes intensive, up to 8 units of railbuses in the trains.

At the same time a debate took place about the nortern part of Göteborg, the suburban village Angered. As a result the railroad was closed on the part between Sjövik - Göteborg from 1967 and the new light rail (tram) to Angered should be, partly, built on the old embankment.

Only remaining parts
From 1967 only the part Sjövik - Vara - Skara - Forshem remained of the once so proud VGJ. Everybody suspected this could last forever, and the were correct.
On the 24^th augusti 1970 all passenger operation was closed and replaced by bus. All freight operation were closed with the exception of the part Nossebro - Vara - Skara - Götene.

Left today
The only remaining part of the former VGJ is the vintage railroad between Anten - Gräfsnäs and Skara - Lundsbrunn.

The part Håkantorp - Lidköping - Gårdsjö, the so called "Kinnekullebanan", has been widen and there is commuter traffic today

Also the part Torved - Gullspång is still remaing. It was widen together with the "Kinnekullebanan" but was closed. It was widen by military reason 8 - 10 years after the closure. Today you can rental a rail bicycle and travel on the part.

What happend in Göteborg
Immediately after the closure the railroad in Göteborg were replaced by light rail (trams) to the new suburban village Angered.

The roundhouse of the railroad was adapted to tram traffic operations and was in used until the new tram garage was opened in 1985. Today is the roundhouse used as a car repair shop .