The driver shortage contributed to lower punctuality

Fact: Punctuality in April

Punctuality for passenger trains during the months of April since 2013.

2013: 91.4 percent

2014: 92.8 percent

2015: 91.3 percent

2016: 92.4 percent

2017: 91.8 percent

2018: 91.0 percent

2019: 93.2 percent

2020: 96.2 percent

2021: 94.0 percent

2022: 89.8 percent

2023: 90.4 percent

Source: Swedish Transport Agency

The Swedish Transport Administration’s preliminary figures for April show that roughly 72,900 out of roughly 80,700 passenger trains reached their final station on time. This corresponds to a punctuality of approximately 90 percent.

In terms of punctuality, the month of April was slightly better than March. At the same time, punctuality in April 2023 was lower than all the months of April in the last ten years – with the exception of 2022.

According to the Swedish Transport Administration, among other things, the shortage of train drivers and the wild strike in Stockholm’s commuter train service made it difficult for punctuality. The month’s many holidays and frost that came out of the ground are also mentioned as reasons.

“The fact that we are doing everything we can to get the traffic in order as quickly as possible is of course a small consolation when our own train is not on time or even worse – does not run at all. But nothing now has a higher priority for me and my colleagues rather than creating better foresight and higher reliability, because right now we have a little too many troublesome stops on various fronts,” says Anna Ericsson, head of the Traffic business area at the Swedish Transport Administration, at the authority’s website.

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