Response to interpellation 2025/26:170 on the maintenance of Sweden's railways
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
KD argues that the government is reversing the destructive trend of deprioritized maintenance by investing more money and more efficient maintenance 1 2. KD emphasizes that the maintenance debt has been halted, punctuality has improved, and that digitalization is an important tool to reclaim deferred maintenance by 2050 2 3. KD believes that preventive maintenance is prioritized over emergency maintenance 4 and that it is necessary to restore confidence in the railway to secure everyday life, the business sector, and the Försvarsmakten 4. S argues that the government's investment is not enough to reduce the maintenance debt 5 6. S claims that technical solutions are complementary and that Sweden needs a significantly increased investment and long-term financing 6 7. S believes that long-term perspective is important so that infrastructure work is not reversed during changes of government 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Åsa Karlsson has asked me whether I consider the current investment in railway maintenance to be sufficient to reduce the maintenance backlog and improve punctuality in Swedish railway traffic, and what further measures I and the rest of the government intend to take to strengthen the reliability of the railway.
The maintenance of the infrastructure has for a long time been allocated too few resources. For several decades, the maintenance of both roads and railways has been deprioritized, and the maintenance debt has been allowed to grow. This has meant that, in the long term, the conditions have not existed for Trafikverket to carry out the maintenance required to maintain the functionality of the facilities.
There are no shortcuts to tackling this. It is not possible to continue taking a shortcut and pushing the problems into the future. Therefore, the government is now prioritizing the upgrading and maintenance of Swedish infrastructure.
The railway is facing a major upgrade as a result of the government's investments in railway maintenance. During the upcoming planning period, a total of 210 billion kronor will be added to railway maintenance, and in addition to that, an additional approximately 34 billion kronor in track fees will be allocated to maintenance measures.
During 2025, 1,700 major maintenance works will be carried out on the state railway, and even more are planned for next year. This is happening at the same time as there are more trains than ever before in the railway infrastructure.
The backlog of maintenance is decreasing, and during the upcoming planning period, Trafikverket will continue to address overdue maintenance at the level that is judged to be maximally possible under current conditions. Trafikverket further assesses that it is possible to catch up on all overdue maintenance by 2050.
Train passengers and freight carriers must be able to rely on the trains arriving on time. When carrying out maintenance measures on the railway, it is important that they are well-planned and affect existing traffic to the minimum extent possible. Trafikverket needs, together with the industry, to continue the ongoing development work of, for example, modernizing work methods and equipment, utilizing the possibilities of digitalization, and developing effective and purposeful maintenance agreements.
Maintenance has been deprioritized for decades. The government is now reversing this destructive trend and instead prioritizing this central activity, both in terms of more money for maintenance and more maintenance for the money.
Åsa Karlsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by thanking the Minister for the answer.
I must say, however, that I still have some reflections. It is primarily about whether the government's investment will truly be sufficient to address the lagging maintenance and improve punctuality.
As the minister says, the maintenance of the railway has been underfunded for decades. That is true. Many governments of many different colors are responsible for that. But what the minister does not say is that the framework the government is now presenting cannot reduce the maintenance debt at the level that would be needed to achieve a robust and reliable railway.
We have a plan where a sum of money has been added for operation, maintenance, and reinvestments over twelve years. But when the costs for materials, energy, and contracting have increased as sharply as they have in recent years, it means that the actual increase will not be as large as it might sound.
At the same time, the minister says that all the lagging maintenance can be caught up by 2050, i.e., in 25 years. But if 12–13 percent of the maintenance is to be rectified by 2037 – how then will the rest, the other 87–88 percent, manage to be rectified by 2050? That sounds completely unreasonable to me. This is a question that many more than I are pondering and want answers to. By the year 2050, Madam Speaker!
The Minister points to the number of planned works during the coming years, and that is, of course, good. But the volume of work does not say everything; rather, it is about what is being done, where it is being done, and with what long-term orientation it is being done. If one wants to take more measures but has an insufficient resource framework, it can lead to choosing cheaper alternatives and short-term measures instead of strategic investments. Then the maintenance debt continues to grow.
Madam Speaker! Swedish railways need long-term perspective, stability and resources. I therefore want an answer to the following question: Does the Minister consider the government's investment sufficient to actually reduce the maintenance debt and not just slow it down?
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! Year 2025 is the first year in which the maintenance debt does not just continue to spiral out of control. We have stopped the bleeding, Madam Speaker. Now we have stopped the sharp downward slide from the previous plan.
Just to put it into context: During the last four years of Åsa Karlsson's party's time in government, the maintenance debt increased by almost 40 billion kronor in just four years. We have stopped this now. We have not done it just by chance, but we have in a very active and strategic way ensured that one gets the maximum out of the resources that can be deployed in practice. We have not only focused on more money for maintenance but also on ensuring that we get more maintenance for the money.
That is why 1,700 larger maintenance projects can be carried out in the Swedish railway infrastructure this year. There have never been so many. Next year, which will also be a record year, 1,800 maintenance projects are planned. In this way, Sweden can reverse the development, take back the deferred maintenance and begin to amortize the maintenance debt.
Madam Speaker! Let me take an example: When I took office as Minister for Infrastructure and Housing, 30–40 switch replacements were made per year. I gathered the railway industry, and I heard that there were contractors in Sweden who said: We can replace this in hours instead of days! The Government gave a mandate to Trafikverket, and we see now that approximately 100 switch replacements will be carried out this year. In just three years, we have therefore gone from 30–40 switch replacements per year to 100, and in the coming years it will begin to scale up to 200 switch replacements per year.
It is the difference, Madam Speaker, in politics. Either one focuses on the functionality here and now and on reclaiming as much maintenance as possible, or one simply progressively neglects maintenance and refrains from governing in a way that allows punctuality to increase.
Then the question is: Has punctuality increased or not? For eight of the ten months this year that have been reported so far, punctuality has become better than the corresponding month last year.
We are, however, not finished in any way, Madam Speaker. The member asks the question: Is it enough? If we are to be able to recover all deferred maintenance by the year 2050, it presupposes that every government, at every plan revision, allocates as much funding as it then assesses that it can deploy.
To use new methods, to prefabricate switches so that one can replace track switches in hours instead of days, to use drones that detect faults in the electrical system's cables and power lines before it becomes a fault, and to replace the signaling system, Madam Speaker, so that we get a signaling system that lasts, is robust, and can be used more efficiently are things that every government from now on will need to take responsibility for, and it is then that the target year 2050 can be reached.
In the plan we have now presented, there are at most the funds that Trafikverket assesses can be deployed. As the methods are developed as a result of the various assignments that the government has given to Trafikverket, however, each government must over the coming years be prepared to provide funds and continue to develop the maintenance industry in a way that allows maintenance to keep pace with the maintenance debt.
Therefore, Madam Speaker, I have called for a truce regarding the maintenance of the railway. Is Åsa Karlsson prepared to conclude such a truce and stop casting suspicion on private maintenance contractors in the Swedish railway system?
Åsa Karlsson (S)
Madam Speaker! The Minister speaks of taking responsibility and not leaving a bill for the future. That sounds good. The problem is only that the policy the government is now pursuing continues to push costs and consequences forward – to travelers, to companies, and to future generations.
The Minister's response contained a number of words about modernization, digitalization, and efficiency. But this is not a substitute for resources, but a complement. One cannot digitalize away rust, cracks, and exhausted components.
The framework the government proposes is not sufficient to provide the robustness that the Swedish railway needs. Instead, we hear formulations about prioritizing the maintenance. Priorities, however, are not about words; they are about results. And many of us doubt the target image that the government paints. As stated: During the first twelve years, 12–13 percent of the maintenance debt shall be worked off. The remaining 87–88 percent shall therefore be addressed during the next twelve years for the government's goal to be reached by 2050.
I therefore want to clarify the following: Sweden needs a significantly increased investment in railway maintenance, not a hollowed-out framework disguised as a reinforcement. Sweden also needs a long-term financing model that does not rely on Trafikverket having to perform miracles to meet its reinvestment needs.
Madam Speaker! Given the challenges we face, it is completely obvious that more is required – more resources, more long-term perspective, and more strategic leadership.
The Minister says that this government has put a stop to the maintenance debt. But is it being paid off?
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! The answer is very simple: Yes. For the first time, there is a plan to pay off the maintenance debt on the railway. I have also answered the member that our government – for we aspire to re-election, Madam Speaker – at the next revision in four years must be prepared to provide more funds as a result of the various methods that now streamline maintenance day by day freeing up space that allows for more maintenance to be performed.
One such example is the maintenance trains that are now being developed and which I saw this month when I visited Tomteboda. With them, one can perform maintenance on one track and simultaneously maintain the speed on the adjacent track without compromising safety and the working environment. Another example is that one can use thermal cameras that detect a heat leak before a contact line breaks.
I am a bit surprised, Madam Speaker, that the member almost scoffs at words like digitalization and the use of drones. These can, therefore, travel along the railway and detect a fault before it has occurred so that we can send out technicians to exactly that location where a small heat leak has been seen in a contact line. These can then repair the fault before a contact line collapses so that one then has to perform maintenance, with a major impact on the entire traffic system in the Swedish railway. This should be welcomed by the Social Democrats, Madam Speaker.
It is possible to detect cracks in the rails by using technical aids to sense vibrations on every train that rolls. That is not something to be argued over. It can cause defects in the track bed to be detected before a track bed fails, Madam Speaker.
This is happening now, thanks to the government's leadership which focuses on railway maintenance. It has been received very positively in large parts of Järnvägssverige, and I actually believe that Åsa Karlsson has noted this.
I believe it would be appropriate to actually embrace this development and stand behind it. Finally, we can collectively see that we are now turning the development around and not continuing on the downhill-like maintenance debt development where it just collapses year after year. Now we are turning the trend.
We have also ensured that the 210 billion kronor allocated for railway maintenance will no longer need to go towards administrative costs that should actually be covered by Trafikverket's administrative appropriation. We have cleaned up the appropriations, which means that the increase for the appropriation Maintenance of Railway in the actual agency is 18 percent because no billions will go from there to Trafikverket's personnel. Instead, we are strengthening the administrative appropriation so that we get better transparency, better cost control, and also more money for railway maintenance.
But again: It is not just about more money, Madam Speaker. It is also about getting more maintenance for the money. That is where we begin to discern a result. Punctuality has, this year, successively, month by month, become better. Eight out of ten months have better punctuality than the corresponding month the year before. Trafikverket also points out that it is, among other things, the maintenance offensive that is now beginning to be noticed.
The target that the member refers to is not the government's set goal. It is Trafikverket that has assessed this. If we continue to provide the funds required and the development in the innovative railway industry is allowed to continue, where Swedish companies can participate and keep up with the maintenance debt, the 2050 goal can be reached.
Therefore, it would be welcome if the Social Democrats embraced this and said that all entrepreneurs who can participate and contribute shall be allowed to participate and contribute. Is Åsa Karlsson prepared to embrace that?
Åsa Karlsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to conclude by underlining that the condition and use of the railway concerns the everyday lives of people across the entire country. It is about people being able to travel to and from their jobs. It is about people being able to transport themselves in a collective way without having to take the car. It is also about the competitiveness of industry and about Sweden's climate transition. The railway is important for Sweden.
It is important that we have new technology that allows us to more easily prevent and remedy problems that can arise with the railway, just as the minister says. But we must also see that the new technology, the digitalization and so on, is a complement, not the entire solution.
It is about a system that today does not deliver at the level that travelers and companies have the right to expect. We have not maintained it at the rate that we have needed to do for decades. As I said earlier, there are many governments that are responsible for this.
I also agree with the Minister on the importance of long-term perspective. As soon as there is a change of government, the entire infrastructure work should not be overturned; instead, we should be able to have a common thread regardless of government so that at least the entrepreneurs and contractors can dare to invest in maintaining and having the tools and machines needed for that. I completely agree with that.
With that, I would like to thank you for the debate here today.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Madam Speaker! I thought that Åsa Karlsson, at the end of her contribution, gave a welcome announcement, that is to say, to provide long-term conditions for the maintenance contractors. Our Swedish companies, which are active here, are in demand on a European market and sometimes a global market under fierce competition. That type of political unrest, for example in an election campaign where one speaks of re-nationalizing maintenance, has arisen because a significant part of the problem has been ideological deadlocks, which also Gunnar Alexandersson, a former railway investigator with a mandate from the agency Trafikanalys, has established. We have therefore historically not achieved breakthrough for what has needed to be done.
We are changing this now. No one, Madam Speaker, has said that digital tools are the entire solution. However, they can be important for achieving more preventive maintenance. We now see a positive trend in the maintenance plan that Trafikverket has for the years 2025–2028. There, the amount of remedial maintenance, emergency maintenance—that is, when one has to rush out and repair a contact line that has already broken down—is reduced. Every fourth time maintenance work is performed, it concerns emergency maintenance. This is now being reduced to 20 percent in just three or four years.
What is then 5 percentage points here or there? Well, that is where many kronor are hidden, and the vast majority understand that preventive maintenance work before a contact line breaks is much more effective. There we see an example of when the government's policy yields results.
This is about restoring confidence in the railway. People's everyday lives, the competitiveness of the business sector, and the Swedish Armed Forces' capabilities must not be affected by the fact that we have neglected maintenance decade after decade. We are turning that around now.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.