Plans for talks to build new high-speed train lines in Sweden remain on hold, with an unclear departure time.
– As soon as possible, however, says Infrastructure Minister Tomas Eneroth (S) about when he hopes to be able to invite the parliamentary parties again.
– The government is preparing the issue and I am keen for the talks to get started again. And I intend to invite the Moderates, regardless of what they have said. I still assume that they want to be involved, Eneroth tells TT.
Just before midsummer, M's economic policy spokesperson, Elisabeth Svantesson, announced that her party had decided not to participate in any restarted talks about high-speed lines between Stockholm and Gothenburg and Malmö, with stations in intermediate cities such as Nyköping, Jönköping, Borås and Värnamo. The lines are too expensive, they take too long to build, the time savings are too small in relation to the costs, according to M. Better then to prioritize welfare and investments in regional commuting, the party thought.
The Moderates maintain, according to what the party tells TT, that they do not intend to participate in new talks. The Moderates do not believe that the government can present sensible financing.
Will be expensive
The cost of building new runways has been estimated at 230 billion.
The issue has been discussed for a long time. The Alliance had the tracks as a profile issue before the 2014 election, and then Eneroth had talks with the bourgeois parties until early summer 2018. Then they took a break while waiting for the election. In January this year, Eneroth declared that it was urgent to get them started again, but nothing has happened yet.
– We want to make sure that we have the best possible basis, says Eneroth, who believes he can put together the conditions for an invitation again.
– It's hectic, he says, emphasizing that the so-called Sweden Negotiations' agreements with municipalities and regions, where they promise to build housing along the routes and arrange public transport, among other things, risk being overplayed.
– It would be the largest industrial project in modern times in Sweden, says Eneroth.
Support of C
In any case, the government has the support of at least one bourgeois party, namely the Centre Party.
The Center Party's traffic policy spokesperson, Anders Åkesson, believes that the Moderates have acted frivolously.
“It's tragic if they reject them without even listening,” he says.
Source: TT
