SJ wins traffic from air and road
Issue 5 2006, Past issues / 15 September 2006 / James Abbott, Technical Editor
Sweden’s state railway has won market share from airlines and buses. But it is not resting on its laurels, SJ Chief Executive Jan Forsberg told European Railway Review in an interview.
Running passenger railways in Sweden is not an easy business. With a population of just nine million and some very difficult topography, parts of this country are far from ideal for railways. Aircraft can fly over the difficult terrain, and there is stiff competition from luxury express coaches and cars on the roads. And yet SJ (Swedish State Railways) has managed to win business from these rival modes in recent years. Traffic volumes in the inter-city rail sector were up 12% in the first six months of 2006, an impressive turnaround considering that four years ago SJ was close to bankruptcy.
How has this trick been pulled off? ‘We have refurbished our inter-city trains and improved the services on board; we have enhanced the marketing of the services and improved the punctuality’ explains Jan Forsberg, SJ’s Chief Executive.
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