After several years of construction of previous lines for long trains and expansion of the double line, it is now possible to use the normal Swedish rails for 730 meter long freight trains.
First comes hector rail. Lines with longer trains between Hallsberg - Malmö have proved their worth and now Hector Rail has started to run 730 meter long freight trains between Malmö and Katrineholm and between Malmö and Hallsberg.
Sweden has built the previous lines for trains with a maximum length of 750 metres for several years. Now with extended double tracks and other types of measurements, the investment begins to pay dividends.
Intensive efforts between the Swedish Transport Administration and Hector Rail have now led to the regular service in Sweden being operated on 730 metre long freight trains.
Longer trains also mean more freight on each train, which reduces the cost per unit. A 730 meter long train now yields 15 more than the previous maximum length of 630 meters.
Another important effect is that more freight on the same train frees up more capacity on the line for other trains.
Today 730 meter long trains will run every day from Katrineholm and Hallsberg to Malmö and the rest of the continent. The trains from Hallsberg are loaded with paper rolls for customers in Europe and the trains to and from Katrineholm are filled with trailers that would load the road network with about 35 trucks.
Sweden allows Europe's largest lorries, but so far Sweden has had the smallest freight trains in Europe. It is time that we increased the competitiveness of the railways. It is the ambition of Hector Rail to constantly bring the rails to a new level and this is a good example of the visualization of ambition.
