Daily night trains to Hamburg and Brussels – this will become a reality within just over two years according to a decision from the government.
”"We believe this is the beginning of a new train boom," says Financial Markets Minister Per Bolund (MP) to TT.
The idea is that the night trains will start operating no later than August 1, 2022 on the Stockholm–Hamburg and Malmö–Brussels routes. On Thursday, the government commissioned the Swedish Transport Administration to carry out a procurement to start train services.
”"We will give the Swedish Transport Administration the opportunity to conduct a direct procurement to get night train services started as quickly as possible because we see that there is a very large interest," says Minister of Infrastructure Thomas Eneroth (S).
Together with the coalition parties C and L, the government has agreed to allocate 300 million kronor in this autumn's budget to the train investment. Money that can be used, among other things, to renew the Swedish train fleet.
”"With these resources, the conditions are there and when you travel across national borders, you have to make sure that the technical requirements are met," says Per Bolund.
According to Bolund, it is the Swedish Transport Administration that has investigated the issue of which destinations were relevant.
”"Then they have concluded that Hamburg and Brussels are suitable because they are at a reasonable distance and are also good destinations for moving on to, for example, London or southern European cities," says Bolund.
He does not rule out that more routes may be added in the future and sees expanded train traffic as part of helping both Sweden's and Europe's economies recover after the corona pandemic.
”"Investing in getting services and infrastructure in place to expand the railway network is exactly what economic and environmental experts advise us to do. Then we have the conditions for the restart to also be a new start for a more sustainable Sweden and Europe," says Per Bolund.
”The fact that we can actually offer sustainable alternatives when we start traveling more in the future is an important part,” he continues.
Taking night trains to southern latitudes was, perhaps especially, a common way to explore Europe in the latter half of the 20th century. Per Bolund speaks warmly of study visits to Brandenburg as a member of parliament, and Thomas Eneroth in turn of youth trips together with SSU – excursions that all began on a night train.
But low-cost flights, deregulation of the train market and changes to the railway system have posed major challenges for night trains, which have since become increasingly rare. Today, there is some night train service between Sweden and Germany, operated by Snälltåget in Skåne.
The hope is that the government will now be one of the countries that leads the way for an initiative that can make waves among the rest of Europe as well as among commercial players.
”"Where previously it was mainly the Austrian railway company that operated night train services, we are now starting to get more other players. Here we are a number of countries that are leading the way and I believe that more can follow," says Thomas Eneroth.
Source: TT
