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Article: Massive Swedish plan approved. (World Report).
- Article from:
- International Railway Journal
- Article date:
- February 1, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corporation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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THE Swedish parliament has approved a record SKr 97 billion ($US 9.3 billion) infrastructure package for new and upgraded railway lines (IRJ October 2001 p20). The 12-year programme will start in 2004 and the infrastructure owner, Banverket, will, with certain exceptions, decide individual projects.
The total sum in the investment package is more than double the amount per year of the previous plan. Unfortunately, parliamentary approval was not enough to prevent that 10-year plan from shrinking by 20% in its first five years!
In addition to the SKr 97 billion, an extra SKr 38 billion has been allocated for maintenance, and SKr 4.5 billion to provide 30% ...