SJ achieved a strong financial recovery in the last quarter of 2018, thanks to releasing tickets for sale earlier than normal and running additional services in the run up to Christmas. “We doubled some departures before Christmas, and nearly 200,000 people travelled with us,” says Mr Crister Fritzson, SJ’s CEO.

Punctuality

Punctuality of medium and long-distance trains dropped from 90% in 2017 to 86% in 2018.

“The long, cold and snowy winter changed in a short time to a very hot summer,” says Fritzson. “This had a great impact on punctuality until mid-August. During the last quarter of the year we returned to a better overall punctuality. The causes of delay that we are responsible for have in recent years decreased to just under 10%. We have changed processes throughout our operations and recently improved our vehicle maintenance.”

Fritzson says the first fully-upgraded X2000 trains will be put into service after this summer, which he says should help to boost traffic further.