Thursday evening’s train derailment in Hultsfred was due to the train colliding with a tree. That crash was far from the first this year. According to Christer Holmgren, who is traffic director at Kalmar Länstrafik, it was rather number 30 in the order.
However, the previous tree collisions have not resulted in any derailments.
“Huge costs to taxpayers”
Christer Holmgren tells SVT that KLT has repeatedly met with the Swedish Transport Administration and urged them to tree-proof the lanes in the county. But without being heard.
– The track is not protected from trees and this has meant huge costs for the taxpayers and, above all, frustrations and worries for our passengers, he says.
– The Swedish Transport Administration promises to return, but nothing happens.
It may take a year before the train can be used
According to him, trees are a big concern and a collision between a train and a tree causes a lot of damage.
– But I am afraid that it will take up to a year before the train that crashed yesterday will be able to be used again, he says.
If there have been so many hit trees on this stretch, is it really safe for passenger traffic?
– Yes, I want to say that it is safe, but it was unfortunate that there was a derailment, but it was also lucky that there were no injuries, says Christer Holmgren.
Different numbers
According to a report from the Swedish Transport Administration published this summer, over a ten-year period there have been 18 collisions between trees and trains on the Stångådal line. But these are numbers that KLT does not recognize at all.
– I can only state that we have different statistics and that we measure it differently, says Christer Holmgren.
Bengt Olsson is press manager at the Swedish Transport Administration, he also assumes that it is about different ways of calculating and reporting, because the data between KLT and the Swedish Transport Administration differ.
– That is what I suspect, he says.
You can see what it looked like at the scene of the derailment on Friday afternoon in the clip below: