SJ is not unexpectedly one of the winners in the climate debate that became hotter last year and where aviation is being singled out as the big villain.
In 2018, 31.8 million journeys were made with the company, an increase of 1.5 million compared to 2017 and a new record. CEO Crister Fritzson calls for better planning and foresight when the Swedish railways are to be upgraded in the coming years.
”"We finished the fourth quarter very strongly. We had better results than the previous year and the number of trips broke a new record, and you have to remember that we broke a record in 2017," Crister Fritzson tells TT.
It is no exaggeration to say that passenger train traffic has reached a golden age without the companies involved having to do much about it.
But what can SJ do to attract all the climate-conscious Swedes who, after all, associate the railway with delays and canceled trains?
”"We have worked incredibly hard in recent years to make our product even more attractive. This includes communication with customers, the ticket booking system, how we handle customers on board, and we have significantly reduced our costs, which has allowed us to lower prices.".
"We are also now making the largest investment in SJ's history, SEK 10 billion in new vehicles. This will allow us to increase our capacity by 50 percent," says Fritzson.
Yet, punctuality for SJ's long- and medium-distance trains dropped from 90 percent in 2017 to 86 percent last year.
In the report, SJ claims that the company's share of the delays is just under 10 percent. The rest can be blamed on the infrastructure, in practice the Swedish Transport Administration.
”"The most important thing for us is of course that we have an infrastructure that we can operate on. Now there are major investments, but it will take time. The Swedish Transport Administration must take responsibility for ensuring that maintenance is planned in a way that minimizes traffic disruptions for consumers.".
What we also have to work on is to get longer foresight in our traffic plan. We can't talk about summer 2019 in February. In February 2019 we will talk about the years 2021-22," says Crister Fritzson.
Net sales during the fourth quarter amounted to SEK 2,142 million, up from SEK 2,087 million in the corresponding period in 2017. For the full year, net sales stood at SEK 7,874 million, an increase of SEK 94 million compared to 2017. However, operating profit fell to SEK 468 million from SEK 666 million in 2017.
Source: TT-di.se
