Major fire in Hässelholm, Sweden

A derelict factory adjacent to the train tracks in Hässelholm caught fire on Wednesday, causing significant damage to the power supply, signalling and tracks near the station.

The photographs of the fire and the subsequent damage to catenary structures in this Aftonbladet article are quite striking:

https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/K3ezXe/tagstopp-i-flera-dagar-efter-branden

Unfortunately Hässelholm is a major junction between Malmö and Stockholm, so there are many cancellations on SJ, Öresuntåg and local trains. Normal service won’t be resumed until next week at the earliest. Most SJ X2000 trains from Malmö to Stockholm today are cancelled.

This is a bit like having a fire next to the tracks somewhere like Peterborough or Crewe... the disruption affects a huge number of services.

More astonishing photos of the damage: warped rails, collapsed catenary and signalling gantries, burnt cables.

http://hassleholm.lokaltidningen.se/nyheter/2019-08-16/-BILDSPECIAL-St%C3%B6rsta-katastrofen-n%C3%A5gonsin-f%C3%B6r-svensk-j%C3%A4rnv%C3%A4g-5546997.html

The article includes the quote from a rail engineer working on the emergency repairs: “I’ve been working in rail for 30 years and have never witnessed a worse disaster. It may be the most serious incident that has ever hit the railways in Sweden.”

There are three shifts of thirty people in each working around the clock to fix the damage. An optimistic schedule sees normal service resuming late on Friday next week, about nine days after the original fire.