Sweden’s Arctic Railway Prepares for a More Militarized Future

(Bloomberg) – Linda Bjurholt received a call from the traffic control center of its company, after leaving an expensive rail in the north of the Arctic circle, the Swedish mining giant LKAB had taken back the trains.

There was another accident in the region, the second in less than three months. It would take almost two weeks for trains to continue their travel along the Malmbanan or Iron Orex line between the world’s largest underground iron ore mine and the export port on the Norway. The first thoughts had sabotage.

“Could a stranger be involved?” LKAB Logistics boss wondered. “Considering the appearance of the world today, it was a disturbing possibility.”

This turned out to be a red herring fish – the accident was caused by harsh winter weather. But Bjurholt had a good reason to suspect. The war in Ukraine was later entering its third year and was close to Finland and a new NATO member and close to Sweden, and the relations between Russia and Scandinavian countries were tense. Since then, the situation has become more tense and the Malmbanan line, which is 500 kilometers long (310 miles), continues to be a main target.

For about 150 years, Malmbanan trains pulled the iron ore, the main component in the steel along the mountainous landscape in the distant north of Sweden. During the Second World War, the line of the state supplied to German steel producers, and the iron ore of LKAB is now about 80% of the production of the European Union and enters the tanks, weapons and other military equipment produced by the block. If Finland is an active front of the 1,300 -kilometer border with Russia, the runway will be one of the best ways to carry NATO’s vehicle and material. Kiruna, the town that hosts the iron ore mine, is 540 kilometers away from Murmansk’s Russian military center.

Although war is not seen as close, it is the possibility of active preparation of leaders. Since Sweden was the newest member of NATO in March 2024, the number of hybrid attacks suspected of the country’s critical infrastructure has increased. Banking services and a public publisher have been subjected to cyber attacks, water facilities were mysteriously damaged, and the police are investigating suspicious sabotage against about 30 mobile phone towers in the east of the country.

Prime Minister Uf Kristerson referred to a security conference in January, referring to the situation, “Sweden is not in the war,” he said. “But there is no peace either.”

Speaking in The Hague last week, Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenenergard said that Russia chose the North Pole region as “the second most important foreign policy priority” after Russia’s post -Soviet countries. In recent years, “We have seen how the number and scope of Russian military activities in the North Pole increased.

Although Sweden’s security service refused to comment on Malmbanan, he published a report underlining the threats faced by the country’s critical infrastructure in March. LKAB also refrained from discussing the security of the railway in any detail, and only “a great priority”.

The Colonel and Commander of the Northern Military Region of Sweden Magnus Stahl, NATO and Sweden’s military activity in the north, said the demands in the transit network will increase.

“Malmbanan is incredibly important for Sweden,” he said in an interview in the Garrison town Boden. However, “It is very easy to damage the infrastructure such as a railway or bridge.” He warned.

Connecting this infrastructure to other parts of the region offers another difficulty. Since Finland is part of the Russian Empire when railways are built, its indicator is about 90 millimeters wider than Sweden, that is, trains cannot travel smoothly between countries like most of Europe.

A recent study estimated that the runway between the Swedish border and the towns of Rovaniemi would cost only € 1.5 billion ($ 1.8 billion). In order to address the problem, the Finnish government said last month that he could build new lines with narrower indicators that put the two together with the existing ones and in some places.

Meanwhile, Malmbanan needs to raise. After decades of investment, even the field demand leaves the availability. In the first day, it uses about 14 return trip and other companies use the railway to send goods and provide passenger services. Andreas Carlson, Sweden’s infrastructure and Housing Minister, described Malmbanan as an e -mail interview as the “the most cramped train line in the country .. With just a runway, any accident or unexpected problem can turn off the entire system as in December 2023, February 2024 and again a few weeks ago.

Albin Enbacke, one of the roughly 100 drivers of LKAB, is used for delays. Some are caused by milling problems such as road blockage and gear failures, others such as avalanche and traffic congestion. Now it comes for anything that can cook on shifts or shifts or stove in the driver’s cabin. “You should bring urgent food.

Supporting Malmbanan’s capacity and long -term flexibility is not only before Sweden. Bane, the operator on the Norwegian side of the border awaits an increase of 43% in traffic in the next 20 years and allocated 2.6 billion Norwegian crowns ($ 260 million) to the upgrades.

According to the Swedish Transportation Administration’s website, including those who will replace aging rails and establish new signal systems, more than two dozens of renewal and improvement project continues or begins. Carlson said that the pieces would be strengthened to host heavier trains, and that they had plans to build a double piece between Boden and Lulea. While the LKAB forces for a double track along the entire length of the line, an early estimate of transportation management suggests that it may last up to 11 billion € and thirty years to plan and complete it.

As a project leader in the agency, Joran Gartner spends his days to find ways to implement corrections that will alleviate the pressure on the system.

During a recent visit to a site near Boden, Gartner pointed to three pieces running parallel to each other for several hundred meters. In the past, the iron train trains were enough to pass each other safely. However, as the length of the trains expands over the years, this is no longer the case.

Once the latest upgrades are completed, the capacity of a ratified mile long run, including the construction of a mile-long runway, will be opened. Nevertheless, he warned that the system would remain vulnerable to disorders and delays.

“These measures,” he said, “only about life support.”

-With the help of Kari Lundgren, Charlie Daxbury and Jade Khatib.

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