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TRAVEL NEWS

Everything you need to know about travel to, from and in Sweden this Easter

Easter tends to be the busiest travel holiday in Sweden. Here's the latest on the planned rail works, changing road rules and European strikes which could disrupt your journey.

Published: 25 March 2024 10:46 CET
Updated: 28 March 2024 10:55 CET
Everything you need to know about travel to, from and in Sweden this Easter
Make sure to be prepared for scheduled rail works in Sweden over Easter. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

If you’re travelling by rail

Sweden usually schedules railway maintenance work for national holidays, as fewer people are travelling to work, and Easter – with the arrival of warmer temperatures – tends to be the start of the rail works season in the southern half of the country.

The Swedish Transport Administration provides a detailed breakdown of Easter work planned. We’ve summarised the main points below. 

Stockholm 

The Citybanan commuter rail system in Stockholm will be closed between Stockholm City and Odenplan between March 29th at 10pm and April 1st at 5pm, with Stockholm’s regional travel company SL promising replacement traffic.

All rail traffic between Jakobsberg in northwest Stockholm and Stockholm City will also be cancelled throughout March 29th and April 2nd. 

Gothenburg 

Maintenance work on the tracks between Partille and Alingsås and bridge repairs between Töreboda and Gårdsjö will see regional trains between Gothenburg and Alingsås and Gothenburg and Gårsjö cancelled between March 28th and April 1st. Replacement buses will be provided. 

Buses will also replace trains between both Varberg and Halmstad and Kungsbacka and Gothenburg from 2pm on March 28th to 2pm on April 1st, as tracks and switches are connected as part of the Varberg tunnel project.

The Västtågen commuter train will still operate between Gothenburg and Kungsbacka, with the Öresundståg trains taking that route. 

Work on the new Västlänken will also mean all trains between Gothenburg’s Central Station and the Gamlestaden station in the north of the city will be cancelled all day on March 29th and on April 1st until 2pm. 

West coast 

As well as the cancellations of trains between Halmstad and Kungsbacka (see above), trains will also be cancelled between Borås and Varberg between March 28th at 2pm and April 1st at 2pm, due to roadwork around Sundholmen. Replacement buses will be provided. 

Work will continue on the tracks between Uddevalla and Stenungsund, while the most southerly part of the same track, between Ytterby and Gothenburg, will also be closed between Good Friday and April 1st at 2pm. 

Central Sweden 

Work at Karlstad’s main station could see trains cancelled between March 28th at 10pm and April 2nd at 5.20am.  

East coast 

The Stångådalsbanan railway between Linköping and Kalmar could see trains cancelled between March 30th at 2pm and March 31st at 3pm.  

Here is a map of the planned work: 

Planned rail work in Easter 2024. Photo: Swedish Transport Administration

If you’re travelling by car

Easter is one of Sweden’s busiest travel holidays, and traffic tends to be concentrated to a few days, rather than spread out as at Christmas and Midsummer.

That means queues should be expected. It’s good to plan your journey in advance, allow extra time and make stops to rest.

The E4 road between Gävle and Tönnebro tends to be particularly busy as travellers head to and from the mountains for their Easter ski trip. 

The good news for those travelling by car is that this year, no major roadworks are planned over Easter — mainly because the holiday falls so early this year that temperatures are still too close to freezing across much of the country, making it difficult to lay down new tarmac. 

If you’re travelling by air 

This year, there are no strikes directly affecting airports or airlines in Sweden,  but industrial action in Spain and the UK might affect Easter travel if you are venturing abroad.  

Workers at airports in Valencia and Madrid, two of Spain’s busiest, have announced that they will strike over the Easter period. At Madrid-Barajas airport, the UGT union has called a strike by employees of the Platform Management Service (SDP) for Wednesday 27th and Friday 29th March between 7am-12pm.

At Valencia airport, flights could be affected between Thursday March 28th and Monday April 1st, between 11am-13am, when workers will walk out and protest outside the Terminal 1 building in Manises.

The Lufthansa airline struck a deal with ground staff on Wednesday, March 27th, averting the risk of strikes over the Easter holidays, which might have affected flights to and from Germany from Norway. 

Finally, border force workers at the UK’s Heathrow Airport voted on March 22nd to strike over the Easter holidays, although walkouts will not happen until after April 8th, you won’t be affected if you are only travelling over Easter, but might be if you stay another week. 

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For members

EES PASSPORT CHECKS

How will the new app for Europe’s EES border system work?

With Europe set to introduce its new Entry/Exit biometric border system (EES) in the autumn there has been much talk about the importance of a new app designed to help avoid delays. But how will it work and when will it be ready?

Published: 7 May 2024 10:29 CEST
How will the new app for Europe's EES border system work?

When it comes into force the EU’s new digital border system known as EES will register the millions of annual entries and exits of non-EU citizens travelling to the EU/Schengen area, which will cover 29 European countries.

Under the EU Entry/Exit System (EES), non-EU residents who do not require a visa will have to register their biometric data in a database that will also capture each time they cross an external Schengen border.

Passports will no longer be manually stamped, but will be scanned. However, biometric data such as fingerprints and facial images will have to be registered in front of a guard when the non-EU traveller first crosses in to the EU/Schengen area.

Naturally there are concerns the extra time needed for this initial registration will cause long queues and tailbacks at the border.

To help alleviate those likely queues and prevent the subsequent frustration felt by travellers the EU is developing a new smartphone app.

READ ALSO: What will the EES passport system mean for foreigners living in Europe?

The importance of having a working app was summed up by Uku Särekanno, Deputy Executive Director of the EU border agency Frontex in a recent interview.

“Initially, the challenge with the EES will come down to the fact that travellers arriving in Europe will have to have their biographic and biometric data registered in the system – border guards will have to register four of their fingerprints and their facial image. This process will take time, and every second really matters at border crossing points – nobody wants to be stuck in a lengthy queue after a long trip.”

But there is confusion around what the app will actually be able to do, if it will help avoid delays and importantly when will it be available?

So here’s what we know so far.

Who is developing the app?

The EU border agency Frontex is currently developing the app. More precisely, Frontex is developing the back-end part of the app, which will be made available to Schengen countries.

“Frontex is currently developing a prototype of an app that will help speed up this process and allow travellers to share some of the information in advance. This is something we are working on to support the member states, although there is no legal requirement for us to do so,” Uku Särekanno said in the interview.

Will the 29 EES countries be forced to use the app?

No, it is understood that Frontex will make the app available on a voluntary basis. Each government will then decide if, when and where to use it, and develop the front-end part based on its own needs.

This point emerged at a meeting of the House of Commons European scrutiny committee, which is carrying out an inquiry on how EES will impact the UK.

What data will be registered via the app?

The Local asked the European Commission about this. A spokesperson however, said the Commission was not “in a position to disclose further information at this stage” but that travellers’ personal data “will be processed in compliance with the high data security and data protection standards set by EU legislation.”

According to the blog by Matthias Monroy, editor of the German civil rights journal Bürgerrechte & Polizei/CILIP the Frontex app will collect passengers’ name, date of birth, passport number, planned destination and length of stay, reason for travelling, the amount of cash they carry, the availability of a credit card and of a travel health insurance. The app could also allow to take facial images. It will then generate a QR code that travellers can present at border control.

This, however, does not change the fact that fingerprints and facial images will have to be registered in front of a guard at the first crossing into the Schengen area.

So given the need to register finger prints and facial images with a border guard, the question is how and if the app will help avoid those border queues?

When is the app going to be available?

The answer to perhaps the most important question is still unclear.

The Commissions spokesperson told The Local that the app “will be made available for Schengen countries as from the Entry/Exit System start of operations.” The planned launch date is currently October 6th, but there have been several delays in the past and may be another one.

The UK parliamentary committee heard that the prototype of the app should have been ready for EU member states in spring. Guy Opperman, Under-Secretary of State at the UK Department for Transport, said the app will not be available for testing until August “at best” and that the app will not be ready in time for October. The committee previously stated that the app might even be delayed until summer 2025.

Frontex’s Särekanno said in his interview: “Our aim is to have it ready by the end of the summer, so it can then be gradually integrated into national systems starting from early autumn”.

READ ALSO: How do the EES passport checks affect the 90-day rule?

Can the system be launched if the app is not ready?

Yes. The European Commission told The Local that “the availability of the mobile application is not a condition for the Entry/Exit System entry into operation or functioning of the system. The app is only a tool for pre-registration of certain types of data and the system can operate without this pre-registration.”

In addition, “the integration of this app at national level is to be decided by each Schengen country on a voluntary basis – as there is no legal obligation to make use of the app.”

And the UK’s transport under secretary Guy Opperman sounded a note of caution saying the app “is not going to be a panacea to fix all problems”.

When the app will be in use, will it be mandatory for travellers?

There is no indication that the app will become mandatory for those non-EU travellers who need to register for EES. But there will probably be advantages in using it, such as getting access to faster lanes.

As a reminder, non-EU citizens who are resident in the EU are excluded from the EES, as are those with dual nationality for a country using EES. Irish nationals are also exempt even though Ireland will not be using EES because it is not in the Schengen area.

Has the app been tested anywhere yet?

Frontex says the prototype of the app will be tested at Stockholm’s Arlanda Airport, in Sweden. Matthias Monroy’s website said it was tested last year at Munich Airport in Germany, as well as in Bulgaria and Gibraltar.

According to the German Federal Police, the blog reports, passengers were satisfied and felt “prepared for border control”.

This article is published in cooperation with Europe Street News.

 
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