Malmbanan is Sweden’s busiest railway. But it only managed to be open for four days after the previous stop before another derailment was a fact.
LKAB bleeds SEK 100 million a day when the iron ore is at a standstill. At the same time, Sweden is being pressured by new demands on infrastructure in connection with NATO entry.
– Our transport and energy supply systems must work almost regardless of what happens – even in war. From that perspective, it is not so good that such an important connection link is down for such a long time, says Thomas Ekström, expert in military logistics at the Norwegian Defense Academy.
EU millions to Malmbanan
The Swedish Transport Administration recently received 611 EU million in order to increase military mobility in the country. Five projects got to share the money – of which SEK 98 million was earmarked for the Malmbanan.
– The importance of the Northern Hemisphere becomes very important with NATO’s new member countries Sweden and Finland. The importance of transport from west to east will increase significantly, says Thomas Ekström.
– The Swedish infrastructure is absolutely crucial for us to function on a daily basis and from an operational perspective.
The police are investigating the derailments as suspected sabotage and are cooperating with the Security Police. But according to the National Accident Commission, there is currently nothing to indicate that it would be sabotage.
The minister: “Important for total defence”
Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson (KD) calls the incident “worrying” and says that the government is following the investigation and the work around the track closely.
“The transport infrastructure is important for total defence, society’s preparedness and for socially important functions to be able to be maintained both during various types of peacetime crises and during heightened preparedness or war. I have previously pointed out that the defense committee sees a need to strengthen relations in the east-west direction due to our membership in NATO”, he writes to SVT Nyheter.