SJ still cannot release tickets for travel between Stockholm and Gothenburg for several days in mid-May. The reason is that the Swedish Transport Administration’s planning for when track work is to be carried out is still not ready. Usually, it must be issued to the train companies 18 weeks in advance.
– We understand that people who want to travel with us get frustrated, but we do not want to sell any tickets for departures that may later have to be cancelled, says Jonas Olsson, press communicator at SJ.
Made it for Christmas and Easter
The lack of staff and lagging planning from the Swedish Transport Administration created problems for travelers even before Christmas and Easter. Part of that has to do with the introduction of a new digital planning system in December.
At the moment, no traffic is affected by the delayed planning of track work, but according to Bengt Olsson, the authority will soon have to schedule track work with one day’s notice on certain stretches.
– That’s why we’re making these power focuses that the staff situation entails, he says.
Prices are rising faster
How much the plans for track work lag varies on different routes. But according to Bengt Olsson, most work is done around the big cities. In the long run, this means that the release of tickets for travel there can take the longest.
The Swedish Transport Administration says that their goal is that travelers should not notice the works and that the trains should run according to the timetables. But the closer the train companies can release their journeys, the faster the ticket prices rise after they are put up for sale.
In this way does it affect the travelers anyway?
– We have nothing to say about prices. How to choose their price models is up to the train companies, says Trafikverket’s Bengt Olsson.