Travel chaos after power fault in Swedish capital
UPDATED: Trains are running again after at more than a dozen came to a halt at Stockholm's central train station when an electric wire was torn down by a commuter train in southern parts of the Swedish capital around noon on Tuesday. But delays are to be expected.
Travellers were evacuated on Tuesday afternoon after a commuter train ripped down an overhead cable near the Årstaberg station. Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reported that they had been on the train for almost an hour and a half.
One railway line was able to open by 3pm and the other is set to open by 6pm on Tuesday. The two other lines were already closed off due to scheduled work taking place.
But Katarina Wolffram at the Swedish Transportation Authority (Trafikverket) warned that although trains are running again, more delays are to be expected.
"A lot of trains are waiting and there's one line that's supposed to have trains running in both directions," she said.
The incident happened just hours after the Swedish government revealed a bid to invest billions of kronor in the next four years into a massive railway upgrade.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, alongside Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson, Education Minister Gustav Fridolin and Minister for Climate and the Environment Åsa Romson, announced plans to invest 620 million kronor ($72m) in 2015 and thereafter 1.24 billion a year until 2018 to put an end to delays and train cancellations which have plagued Swedish rail travellers in recent years.
The bid forms part of the centre-left coalition's spring budget proposal, which is set to be presented by April 15th.
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Travellers were evacuated on Tuesday afternoon after a commuter train ripped down an overhead cable near the Årstaberg station. Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet reported that they had been on the train for almost an hour and a half.
One railway line was able to open by 3pm and the other is set to open by 6pm on Tuesday. The two other lines were already closed off due to scheduled work taking place.
But Katarina Wolffram at the Swedish Transportation Authority (Trafikverket) warned that although trains are running again, more delays are to be expected.
"A lot of trains are waiting and there's one line that's supposed to have trains running in both directions," she said.
The incident happened just hours after the Swedish government revealed a bid to invest billions of kronor in the next four years into a massive railway upgrade.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven, alongside Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson, Education Minister Gustav Fridolin and Minister for Climate and the Environment Åsa Romson, announced plans to invest 620 million kronor ($72m) in 2015 and thereafter 1.24 billion a year until 2018 to put an end to delays and train cancellations which have plagued Swedish rail travellers in recent years.
The bid forms part of the centre-left coalition's spring budget proposal, which is set to be presented by April 15th.
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