Why is nothing happening on the railway and why is it not developing at the same pace as the rest of Europe?
There may be many reasons for this and the culture that now prevails has been prevailing for many years. It is no secret that there has been a hidden agenda within the Swedish Transport Administration and the political rulers, to close down the railway. This agenda can be clearly proven to have prevailed absolutely since the 1990s and it has been implemented with impact, not only by this government but with great success by the previous social democratic governments.
I can definitely say that this is the case and I was hit with consequences that were extensive and difficult and it resulted in me having to put the company into bankruptcy. I therefore speak with experience from the handling that took place at that time from authorities and companies. The then Social Democratic government then made a government declaration where 500 million would go annually to the truck industry. This donation is still ongoing.
The truck industry was to provide the corresponding capital and then what is now called FFI, Vehicle Technology Research and Innovation, was formed. What is worse is that today the authorities responsible for funding research and development
in Sweden, the Swedish Transport Administration, Vinnova and the Energy Agency, have their own departments that go by the name FFI. There they now have a veto right so that the projects that are to be granted support must be approved by FFI. Of course, they do not release development projects that promote rail transport. This is a disgrace for research and development
in Sweden and the transport area.
Our efforts to develop intermodal transport had been noticed from abroad. The IRU, the International Transport Union, had appointed the Dutch consultancy firm, NEA, to see how future transport could develop. They unanimously concluded that the best system that could form the basis for future transport was the system that we had developed, CCT. The IRU went out and published the NEA report and that they came up with their own press releases.
This was too much for Volvo and Scania and their lobby organisations to take action. The mission was to "stop that fool Sten with his CCT system". He will destroy our entire future market!
Above is a 2-page copy of the NEA report and a copy of the Press Release that the IRU published on February 4, 1998.
Freight traffic in Europe by rail has developed significantly better than what has happened in Sweden. We have the governments, both the current and previous ones, to thank for that which have consciously steered against closing down the railway. Despite the fact that the railway is the absolute best way to transport goods, seen from all perspectives. Instead, development has been consciously steered with a focus on truck transport.
Below are some video examples of freight transport by rail in Europe.
This site was created with the Nicepage