Source: https://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2023/08/regeringen-tar-nasta-steg-for-att-starka-jarnvagens-punktlighet-och-tillforlitlighet/

The government is taking the next step to strengthen the railway's punctuality and reliability

PublishedAugust 23, 2023

The government is taking the next step to increase the reliability of rail traffic with improved functionality and trains that arrive on time. Therefore, the government intends to make a decision tomorrow on a task for the Swedish Transport Agency to report on measures to strengthen the implementation of railway maintenance and the robustness, reliability and punctuality of railway traffic.

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• The Swedish railway network must be improved. There is a large maintenance debt that has built up over a long period of time and requires action. The government therefore intends tomorrow to give the Swedish Transport Agency the task of presenting how it works to strengthen its ability to carry out railway maintenance, says Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson.

In June, the minister gathered the players of the railway industry for a meeting due to the problems with the planning of the train traffic and the challenge of long overdue maintenance. There, the Swedish Transport Administration informed about the problem and gave an update on the ongoing work to improve the situation.

Now the government intends to, at tomorrow's meeting, decide on a task for the Swedish Transport Administration to report on the measures that the authority is implementing and intends to implement in order to develop and strengthen its customer competence and ability to plan and implement railway maintenance with the aim of increasing robustness, reliability and the punctuality of rail traffic. The report must also include what measures are implemented to improve the functioning of the market for railway maintenance and thereby promote the conditions for the market's players to develop.

The government believes that an important factor for effective maintenance of the railway is that market players work with development, innovation and investment in the business.

• Closer cooperation between the Swedish Transport Administration, transport companies, transport buyers and maintenance companies is necessary to find effective and innovative solutions, says Infrastructure and Housing Minister Andreas Carlson.

The report must also contain an account of the development of punctuality in rail traffic over at least a five-year period, broken down in such a way that it appears in detail which different circumstances and actors within the rail system cause delays.

The assignment must be reported no later than February 12, 2024.