New fines for SJ for deficiencies in night trains

The problems with the maintenance of the night trains to northern Sweden continue.

Now the Swedish Transport Administration has handed out another fine of over half a million kroner to SJ for deficiencies during the first quarter of this year, reports Dagens Nyheter. A large part of the fine, SEK 390,000, has been handed out due to broken toilets and showers.

– Sewage was leaking from the toilet. It smelled bad and was wet, says traveler Dag Halvorsen, who recently traveled the Åre-Stockholm route with SJ, to DN.

According to Tobbe Lundell, press manager at SJ, the lack of maintenance is due to the fact that the train company’s maintenance supplier is currently having difficulty getting the staff together.

– This is why we don’t have time to get the trains in the condition they should be in on time, he tells the newspaper and adds that recruitment of staff is ongoing.

The night trains to northern Sweden have been drawn with defects for a long time. SJ and Norwegian-owned Vy, which runs the Gothenburg-Åre and Stockholm-Narvik routes, among other things, have each been fined over SEK 1.5 million for lack of comfort or delays since the companies took over night train traffic in 2020, according to DN.