Greens promise new rail lines and tougher delay payouts

Sweden’s Green Party has promised to restart planning for new main rail lines and sharply increase maintenance spending if it enters government after the election.

The package calls for a new southern main-line system built around Jönköping, with connections towards Borås and Gothenburg, Linköping and Stockholm, and Hässleholm and Malmö.

The party also lists double-track work on the East Coast Line between Gävle and Härnösand, faster construction of the North Bothnia Line between Umeå and Luleå, completion of double track between Maria and Helsingborg, and maintenance on the Stångådalen and Tjust lines.

For passengers, the Greens propose a zero vision for delays, automatic compensation and removal of what the party describes as a force-majeure loophole. The package does not specify the size of automatic payments or a timetable for introducing them.

The plan would create a separate rail authority, return maintenance to state control and aim to clear the maintenance backlog during the next national transport-plan period. It also proposes negotiations with Norway over a faster Stockholm–Oslo connection.

These are election pledges, not funded or enacted projects.

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