New Year’s Day means the end of the Christmas holiday for many, and many wanted to travel home to start work.
But instead people got stuck somewhere between Stockholm and Gothenburg.
The reason was ice coating on contact lines in Laxå, where many trains pass.
The forecast was that the trains could run early on Thursday morning. But on Thursday it messed up again – also now because of the so-called “armored ice” on contact lines in Laxå.
– It has taken longer to knock away the ice than we anticipated yesterday, says Trafikverket’s press manager Bengt Olsson.
It creates the “armored ice”
The ice has to be knocked off manually, which is a time-consuming job.
– You have to turn off the electricity completely because there are 16,000 volts in those lines which is completely life-threatening. Up in a trolley basket and hand knock pretty much every meter of the overhead wires.
The ice occurs when the temperature suddenly drops, and the surrounding air is humid. That particular phenomenon is “incredibly difficult to predict”, according to the Swedish Transport Administration. The ice then means that there is not enough electricity for the trains.
– I can only regret. You have to be patient in situations like this, the weather plays tricks on us, says Bengt Olsson.
Travelers stuck in Stockholm
On Thursday morning, one track was open in Laxå, but when other tracks can be used is unclear. If the temperature increases, the ice can melt faster.
Anton Giöbel is one of the travelers affected by the great train wreck. He was supposed to go from Stockholm to Gothenburg on New Year’s Day, but got stuck in the capital. He had to sleep in a hotel. On Thursday afternoon, he is at Stockholm’s central station and does not yet know when he will be able to go home and start work.
– Hopefully we’ll get home, but in the worst case we’ll have to spend another night here.