Sweden’s autumn budget proposal features a win for rail freight. The so-called special environmental compensation will get a 330 million Swedish crown boost (around 30 million euros) to 885 million crowns (around 80 million euros) annually. Swedish rail celebrates.
The Swedish government can provide the “special environmental compensation” to increase the competitiveness of the rail sector. A big increase is now in the works, from around 50 million euros to 80 million euros.
The plan follows an increase in track access charges (TAC) of 40% between 2024 and 2025, which the Swedish branch organisation for rail operators suspects is the underlying reason for the funding increase.
TACs are a major cost burden for rail freight companies, so any form of support is welcome. To illustrate, logistics company ScandFibre expects its TAC expenses to nearly double in two years time: from 44 million Swedish crowns (3,8 million euros) in 2024 to 80 million (7 million euros) by 2026.
Reverse modal shift
“Major customers have declared that substantially reduced track access charges or similar was necessary for them to not switch to other modes of transport”, explains Lina Lagerroth, senior policy officer at the branch organisation. Rail freight needs to be affordable to avoid a reverse modal shift to the road. Financial support could help in keeping rail competitive.
Yet, going into the future, a more sustainable solution would be to just reduce TACs altogether, rather than providing compensation. The rail operators’ organisation hopes to discuss TAC calculations with the Swedish Transport Administration.
It hopes to focus on wear and tear of infrastructure: “Calculation of wear and tear can be done in different ways. It is important that the model reflects the actual wear and tear, which the Swedish rail companies believe is not done using the Swedish Transport Administration’s calculation bases”, Lagerroth explains.
Paying for diversions
Besides, the cost paid by rail companies should also reflect the service delivered, argues Lagerroth: “The cost of a train path must reflect the level of infrastructure and the ability to operate the train according to the ordered train path. Costs that are additional to this should be borne by the Swedish Transport Administration. For example, today the train operator pays track charges for diversion and not the route they have been promised”, she concludes.
