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full screen For every day that the ore trains cannot roll from LKAB’s mines to Narvik, the state-owned company loses SEK 100 million. Photo: Pi Frisk/Svd/TT
The damage from the new derailment on the Malmbanan seems to be clearly less than previously feared, the Accident Commission announces.
– There is nothing to indicate that someone has manipulated the track, says Jonas Bäckstrand, chairman of the investigation at the Accident Commission.
The reasons for the derailment appear to be “naturally railway-related”, says Bäckstrand. The National Accident Commission, SHK, has some hypotheses but does not want to go into them further as they do not have all the facts yet.
The damage also appears to be clearly less than feared.
– The first information we received was that five kilometers of track could be damaged. Rather, it appears to be just under two kilometers. But it is still difficult to assess as we cannot see all parts of the track due to the amount of snow, says Jonas Bäckstrand.
It was last Saturday evening that an unloaded ore train derailed on the Malmbanan at Vassijaure near the Norwegian border. It was the second derailment in just over two months that stops LKAB’s important transport route of iron ore from its mines to the port in Narvik. The track only managed to be open for five days after the previous stop before another train derailed.
After the new derailment, the police opened an investigation into sabotage.
– There is nothing to indicate that and the location of this accident is beyond the previous derailment, so we see no connection between the two events either, says Jonas Bäckstrand.
When traffic can resume and the ore trains can roll again is still unclear.
The cause of the derailment that occurred on December 17 is still being investigated. The accident commission’s technical analyzes have not been completed, but according to Jonas Bäckstrand, they also have hypotheses there that they do not want to go into yet.