Heavy rail travel delays expected across Sweden

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Heavy delays were expected in the densely-populated southern area of Sweden on Thursday morning, particularly on the lines from Malmö to Hässleholm and from Malmö to Helsingborg, because of a signalling fault at the station at Åkarp.

Meanwhile, operators were trying to fix a similar fault at the main central station in Helsingborg, causing problems for all rail traffic through the city.

However, just after 8am the Swedish Transportation Authority (Trafikverket) said both signalling faults had been taken care of and trains were running again, but that delays could be expected.

And slightly further north, in the Blekinge and Småland regions, replacement buses are currently running between Karlskrona and Emmaboda due to a power blackout at one of the local train stations on the line.

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Meanwhile, in northern Sweden a switchgear fire at Hofors has caused all rail traffic to grind to a halt between Falun and Storvik.

“There's a complete stop in both directions,” Joel Lindberg, press spokesman at the Transportation Authority, told the TT newswire.

The fire was put out on Thursday morning, but trains are not expected to start running until around 6pm later in the day. Replacement buses are in operation in the meantime.

It is unclear how many passengers are likely to be affected by the delays, which come at a time when many Swedes are returning home from their summer holidays.

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