It has probably not escaped anyone's notice that there has been a great deal of media focus on railways this past week, especially SVT, which for three days has been pushing out news about the worrying - but not surprising - maintenance debt of 91 billion, the effect of delays for freight traffic on Sweden's economy (with reference to Recap Swedish Railways report) and railway repairs that are going too slowly as well as an interview with Minister of Infrastructure Andreas Carlson in Aktuellt.

The train companies have been highlighting the issue of the enormous maintenance debt for many years. It is good that the neglected maintenance is now being noticed – both in the media and by the government – but it also requires concrete measures, preferably yesterday, not least considering the security policy situation we find ourselves in.

The Minister has highlighted his expectation of improved maintenance, for example more efficient execution, developed methods and more modern machinery. This is good because much of what is required is already available as inspiration from other countries. Maintenance measures could be carried out at a faster pace and the Swedish Transport Administration could in the short term "manage" more maintenance measures with increased resources. In that situation, increased budget funds for railway maintenance could realize an installment of the entire maintenance debt over a few years.

The main focus is on maintenance, which is absolutely right. But we must not forget the need for increased capacity either. The minister mentioned at the Railway Industry Cooperation Forum, JBS, major conference this week that minor tuning measures have a major effect on the capacity of the railway and have also opened up alternative financing, which is good. But time is short. Here too, new – existing – technology and expertise can be used more effectively, for both smaller and larger measures.

According to the press release.