SWEDEN: MTR Corp is to hand back its remaining operating contract with effect from June 16, reporting ‘challenges’ to achieving a financially sustainable business.
Local transport authority Mälardalstrafik awarded MTR a contract to run regional services to the west and northwest of Stockholm until December 2029 with an option for a further year:
- Örebro – Eskilstuna – Stockholm – Uppsala;
- Norrköping – Nyköping – Stockholm;
- Hallsberg – Katrineholm – Stockholm;
- Uppsala – Sala – Västerås – Eskilstuna – Katrineholm – Linköping;
- Uppsala – Gävle.
MTR took over the Mälartåg routes from SJ in December 2021 and the Upptåget network from Transdev in June 2022. Services are operated using a fleet of Stadler Kiss double-deck EMUs leased from AB Transitio.
According to the operator, the agreement signed in 2021 was the first to be ‘procured in its current form, with a new business model, a new expanded traffic layout and the integration of Upptåget into the Mälartåg system.’ This has ‘affected MTR Mälartåg’s ability to build a financially sustainable business’.
The operator said that it had been undertaking ‘a constructive dialogue’ with Mälardalstrafik for some time about how the concession should develop.
In October 2023 the authority issued a prior information notice giving a year’s notice for the potential tendering of a new contract starting from December 2026.
On February 22 MTR confirmed that the negotiations had ‘led to the joint conclusion that the collaboration cannot continue within the current agreement’.
‘We have done our utmost to develop the Mälartåg traffic with the best interests of the passengers in focus’, explained MTR Nordic CEO Caroline Åstrand. ‘Above all, we have trained a large number of new train drivers, which will be of great benefit to passengers for many years to come. Within the current agreement, however, it has not been possible to achieve a sustainable financial situation, or to deliver the traffic that the agreement requires.’
MTR Mälartåg said it would continue to operate the services until a new operator is in place. It confirmed that all employees who primarily work on the Mälartåg operation would be offered continued employment with the new operator.
According to local media, MTR’s Swedish operations have been losing money, with the corporation reported to have made a loss of SKr250m in 2022. Much of this was attributed to the Stockholm Pendeltåg suburban network and Målartåg, as well as the MTRX open access inter-city business. MTR Nordic agreed last November to hand back the Pendeltåg operation, and the sale of MTRX to Finland’s VR Group is expected to complete in May.
MTR is due to hand over the profitable Stockholm Tunnelbana metro contract next year, with the regional authority selecting the Connecting Stockholm joint venture of Go-Ahead Group and ComfortDelGro to operate and maintain the network for 11 years from May 2025.
