Improved Capacity

Never before have so many people and such a high volume of goods been transported via rail. Sweden has the most open railway market in all of Europe, with free competition, and today some fifty rail companies operate on the tracks. This represents a tenfold increase in the past 25 years.

The development of the railway is not just an important issue for Sweden. The EU wants to move traffic from the road to the railway, something which has a major impact on us and our work.

It is a great challenge to allow space for everyone wanting to use the tracks. In addition, the Swedish rail network is in need of maintenance and modernisation. These measures also need space on the tracks.

Smarter use of railways

Essentially, Improved Capacity is about using the railway in a smarter way which facilitates and increases the efficiency of the management of our services, for increased capacity, among other things. With future approaches and tools, we will do things in new ways in dialogue with the industry. Using the Swedish Transport Administration's services will be easier, slicker and quicker.

We meet in the Capacity Portal

Market-adapted planning of capacity (MPK) is one of the change initiatives within Improved Capacity which develops the approach and tools. A successive planning of capacity will result in greater punctuality in a train plan with fewer contract points. Another example is the new web-based Capacity Portal which will be the shared platform for questions regarding use of the railway between the Transport Administration and the industry.

The changes we are carrying out benefits everyone who in different ways uses the railway network, and primarily for society at large.

• Passengers will gain acc­ess to more departures, and disruptions affecting train traffic will become less frequent.
• Shippers will have shorter lead times, larger freight capacity and a considerably more flexible solution which facilitates planning.
• Rail companies increase the efficiency of their planning and production. Time for standstill on the tracks will be reduced and interruptions which affect rail traffic will become less frequent.
• The contractor will see more effective management of track works and better planning for rectification of the installation. This will result in reduced planning and production costs.
• Trafikverket will gain better system support, a more effective approach and lower IT costs. Overall, customer benefits will improve and efficiency will increase.
• The industry will gain more transparency and improved competitive neutrality, and the situation for new actors will be easier. These solutions also provide an increase in participation, customer interaction and self-service, which is assessed to reduce the industry's costs by over SEK 700 million annually.
• Social benefits increase in step with greater space on the tracks. Successive planning will help to free up a large number of kilometres of railway. More people can travel by train and higher volumes of goods can be transported.

Detailed information and status for the change initiatives is managed continuously in the forms of collaboration with the industry which are intended for these issues.