More than 91 percent of Swedish passenger trains called at their station on time last year, according to the Transport Administration's preliminary statistics, reports Swedish public radio's news programme, Ekot.
That is an increase of almost three percentage units on last year, which is partly due to the fact that 2018 was a record low for punctuality on Swedish railways, with only 88 percent of trains arriving on time.
But despite the improvement, the official target of 95 percent remains a long way off.
In order to reach the target, transport authorities need to better plan maintenance work and adjust timetables to give certain trains more time to get to their final destination.
“We're talking about adding a little bit of extra time for some trains during intense periods in summer,” Transport Administration traffic manager Roberto Maiorana told Ekot.
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According to the definition used, a train is considered to have arrived “on time” if it pulled in at the station less than five minutes behind schedule.
Train travel got a boost in Sweden in 2019 on the back of an anti-flying environmental campaign, with so many people opting to take the train that tågskryta ('train brag') became one of the new words of the year.
National railway operator SJ has said it is investing to double its capacity over the next five years.
Swedish vocabulary
on time – i tid
delay – (en) försening
train – (ett) tåg
maintenance work – underhållsarbete
timetable – (en) tidtabell
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