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February 14, 2012
'Sweden has worst railway maintenance in Europe': SJ CEO
Published: 6 Feb 10 09:41 CET | Double click on a word to get a translation
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/24830/20100206/
Swedish state railway firm SJ was making all-out efforts today to tackle huge problems resulting from the recent cold snap.
- 'Too cold' for trains in northern Sweden (5 Feb 12)
- 'Sjöstedt-effect' boosts Left Party figures (3 Feb 12)
- Rough weather causes train chaos in Stockholm (3 Feb 12)
More than 1,000 workers were clearing ice along railway tracks and switches in a network comprising 13,000 kilometres of tracks, the 20th largest in the world.
In the past few frigid weeks, maintenance and locomotive problems, including carriages and signaling systems, have caused a public uproar. Trains are often running erratically, and sometimes not at all.
The chairman of the state-owned system told the daily Dagens Nyheter that SJ has not received sufficient funding for maintenance over the years.
“A European study shows that Sweden had the worst maintenance record with railways of all comparable European countries,” said Ulf Adelsohn.
He said SJ told the government in 2005 that it would be wise to pump fresh investments into maintenance.
"We got a lot of criticism for proposing this,” said Adelsohn, a former leader of the centre-right Moderates.
Adelsohn was joined by SJ President Jans Forsberg in saying that the government must bear its share of responsibility for problems afflicting the system during a cold and snowy winter.
As an example, Forsberg said the high speed X2000 trains can accumulate up to three tons of clinging ice during present wintry circumstances. It takes 4-8 hours to de-ice.
“It also happens that technical equipment under train carriages can freeze, and sometimes this includes toilets and the water and electrical systems."
He said he could not predict when the situation would change. Everything depended on the weather.
"The political system is responsible for determining how much will be invested (in maintenance), while we are responsible for investing in trains in such a way that they can tolerate this kind of weather in a more satisfactory manner,” Forsberg added.
SJ last week announced profits of 460 million kronor ($65 million) in 2009, with passenger traffic declining by 2 percent.
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Only by hiring people clearing ice along the cities, the unemployement could be reduced.
Another thing that could reduce traffic accidents and unemployement could be to light the Swedish roads.
Have they ever, ever used the railway system in England?
They stop if there are leaves on the track for heavens sake!
Over the past few weeks England has had "a little snow" compared to here. The fact that they are still running here all be it erratically is something to be proud of. In the UK the whole road and rail network were virtually closed down for 3 days due to the fact they had 3 inches of snow over night! Here that is merely a light dusting!
Also, signal problems have been rampant for the past two years at least... I lost count of the times trains got stopped or cancelled due to signal problems.
So now, I'm driving. My girlfriend doesn't drive so she takes the train to work, these past few weeks make her want to get a driving license.
The article is a complete fabrication.
The rail system in Eire of which there is very little, is not properly maintained. Sverige's railway system is light years better maintained that that in Eire.
The rail system in the United Kingdom is also not properly maintained. Sverige's railway system is light years better maintained that that in the United Kingdom.
The railway system in Sverige is light years ahead of the United Kingdom and Eire.
However I do agree with further investment.
More local Tågs would be very good in all areas of Sverige, prefereably covering longer distances.
An example would be the Tåg from malmö to Höör. They should change that to Hassleholm as the final destination so as to connect with other Tåg networks and have them running 24 hours so as to allow more people to work in Copenhagen.
Reopening the railways lines in eastern Småland to areas such as Öskarshamn would also help in opening up that area to inward investment.
However Sverige does have a very good railway system. The author of the article needs to be taken to task for such blatant anti-Sverige lying.
I commuted for around two years using the Swedish railway system and I certainly don't think it's very good. 1 out of 5-10 times (depending on the months) I was delayed between 30 to 60 minutes... on more rare occasions, more than that.
10-20% failure rate is not what I call a "very good" system.
Read the article first...it says "comparable" systems in Europe.
Ireland (and it's not Éire - its been called the Republic of Ireland not Éire since 1949 - Have you ever heard an Irish person say "I come from Éire" I don't think so. Éire is only used when speaking the actual Irish language) has a very small network and some lines still have wooden sleepers, it's not a comparable example. Apples & Oranges mate
I got home 3 and 1/2 hours late on Friday night a week ago (in Sweden), and yesterday worked at home to avoid the same problem. However, the UK has had big, big problems with railways with the Railtrack being privatised and then nationalised again because they did such a poor job. Several years ago we were traveling from Paris to London on the Eurostar and were traveling at over 300 km/hr on the French side and 50 km/hr on the UK side due an emergency national speed limit be imposed due to a couple of train crashes. A few years ago my travelled from Paris to London in 3 hours (after they had part-opened a new high speed railway), but then another 3 hours travelling the last 100km to our home north of London due to train problems and having to switch to buses.
Believe me, Sweden can do better but they are not the worst.
-prices (too expensive)
-cleanliness (how about hire people to clean the public transports, trains, trams, etc)
-trains are usually old.
Investment never hurts,but its always been a better system than most in EurOPE.
The guy was not actually saying Sweden has the worst trains, or the worst service, he was saying Sweden's railways had the worst MAINTENANCE record. The negative effects of poor maintenance build up over a number of years. He is making an argument for more money. That's his job.
Those comparing the rail system in Sweden with the one in "England" ( I trust you include Scotland and Wales) are being unhelpful. The population density in the UK is much higher and rail traffic is is almost at saturation point. The system is running at almost full capacity.
Logistically it would be impossible to put people all over the country to keep the tracks cleared, not to mention the danger as well. The modern trains are rather quiete (not as noisy as diesel locomotives) and with all that snow it might be to late to hear them coming. I dont think blaming the current performance of the trains in Sweden is because of bad maintenance. It is due to these severe weather conditions, that even for SJ is beyond their capacity. Yes it is inconvenient, but not an every day occurance. SJ is not rich and if they have to invest in more staff trying to clear the tracks that would soon reflect in ticket prices.
Its a very tough winter this year and the whole of Europe has been affected, not just Sweden!
I could say alot about Sweden, but I could not say anything bad about the Swedish transorpt system in general.
I kind of agree with the idea that there is a potential to put alot of people to work in sj and reduce the unemployment
While Adelsohn may very well be looking for more money, he has now publicly criticized HIS employer, the government of Sweden. I do not know how that will be received in Sweden, but in the USA he might expect a barrage of criticism from the government itself indicating that Adelsohn is not a competent to perform the task at hand. As we say in the States, payback is a b*tch.
I chuckle at the idea of reducing unemployment by hiring more workers for SJ. As the article notes, SJ made very little money last year, so there is very little money in the bank to hire more people. Are you suggesting that ticket prices should go up, or perhaps the tax rate should go up so that the government will have more funds to hire government employees?
Anyhow, Sweden does have such nice coloured trains ;)
They also seem to go in for bonkers pricing systems and are short of stock on some routes. Also bonkers are the double-deck trains just two or three cars long. And bonkers too is the amount of electrified line with very little traffic on it. Electrification is for busy lines with at least ten trains an hour, not ten trains a day. One wonders why they ever put up the wire. When the equipment wears out, one hopes they will have the sense not to replace it but will keep the railway open with other traction.
What study? Where is it? Has anyone found this study yet? I would like to read it?
My knee-jerk reaction is wow, if Sweden has the worst railway maintenance record in all of Europe the state of European Railways is such that railway disasters are most improbable.
If anyone figures out which report Ulf Adelsohn is referring please post a link.
If you get a copy of that report, please email it to me or send me the link.
I have a feeling that what has happened here is the usual reliance on the the google translator going badly wrong.
The facts as reported in the article on the local, do not add up.
@ henry.bn
The double deck train carriage was invented in Birmingham in the UK, but never utilised in the UK, due to the usual good invention and short sightedness of planners, politicians and managers. In Paris they are an absolute must for moving large numbers of people around. They increase the effficiency of moving people about greatly.
Your rant appears to be a rant for the sake of a rant.
@ Twiceshy
There is some localised problems, but in general the Swedish network is very good.
@ morchad
If you have a problem with Gaelic, that is your problem, not mine. I think Irish Gaelic, Welsh, Bretton, Ulster-Scots, Scottish and other languages should be kept alive. Thankfully the European Union is now funding a lot of projects to keep them alive.
Regarding the Irish network, if you knew anything about Ireland you would know that until the end of the 50's, Ireland had more railaway lines than Sweden has today. It was all sold to India, Japan and China, while being decalred by the politicians and church as a great social leap forward. It left entire communities stranded as cars were rare and there is still not enough bus's to reconnect the communities. That single act destroyed any chance of economic growth for decades and allowed the church and politicians to ensure it festered, until the mid 80's when it was eventually exposed as to what they were really doing.
Those wooden sleepers you are referring to are original Oak sleepers that are at least 80 years old and in some cases up to 140 years old. A lot of those oak beams are still in circulation as they are the best of timber.
One of the reasons why economy goes down is that they collect money in banks. nobody hires someone to do the job for them at home,office, indoor or outdoor and in Sweden one person is doing the work of 4 persons . they dont put the money in circulation. SJ needs more stuff at least in winter time.
"He said SJ told the ( Then Social Democrat ) government in 2005 that it would be wise to pump fresh investments into maintenance.
"We got a lot of criticism for proposing this," said Adelsohn, a former leader of the centre-right Moderates
So we have the Chairman of SJ who is a Moderate party guy who most probably got his job from being a party hack.
All he is trying to do is to conjure up enough statistics to put any problems of under investment on the previous government to try and get the current mob re-elected.
Ignore it
What is wrong with SL and SE is that we have idiots like Adelsohn who are out of touch with reality. I watched a recent TV debate with him where a commuter asked, why are your prices so high? His answer was "if you book in time you can get a good deal"
Seriously for a family of 4 it is much cheaper to drive or to fly.
I bought tickets "in time" like the muppet said from Stockholm to Ludvika 340kr ONE way for ONE person. I paid less to fly from Stockholm to London!!
The reason SL has no maintenance money is that do not know what to charge for thie train journeys.
Swedish rail may not be the most ineffecient or porly maintained railways in Europe. But their management is the most overpaid, useless management.
Its a simple solution, adjust your prices into real world competitive pricing, have family discounts (good ones, not 2% reducions!) then MORE people will travel by rail and there will be more money to maintain the railway.
They most proabaly spend more money on fixing broken bones and injuries this year....talking about creating more jobs...definately more jobs are created in the hospitals but no one is employ.....
Come on, it is like a joke!! People have created spaceships, hadron colliders, but they don´t know how to solve such problems ...