jamesontheroad
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Vy Tåg (approximately pronounced Vee torg if you are an English-speaker), the Swedish subsidiary of the state-owned Norwegian VY Group has announced they will not seek an extension of the 4-year procurement of the Stockholm-Narvik and Stockholm-Luleå night trains when it runs out in December 2024. The framework provided for a 2-year extension but they chose to walk away.
Järnvägar reports, in Swedish, here: https://jarnvagar.nu/vy-overger-nattagen/
My translation of the key bits...
For my part, I'm not so sympathetic to Vy Tåg's argument. They bid incredibly low to operate a very complex pair of night train routes and didn't expect SJ to compete by launching commercial traffic on the Umeå-Gothenburg/Stockholm corridor.
Once again, the state has to step in and sort out a problem created by a private company. A direct procurement for 2 years will be announced in July. Only SJ, Snälltåget and possibly VR's new Swedish operation might be eligible. In all likelihood, SJ will get the 2 year direct procurement and then we start all over again with a new procurement in the next few years.
Järnvägar reports, in Swedish, here: https://jarnvagar.nu/vy-overger-nattagen/
My translation of the key bits...
"The costs for the traffic have become higher than we expected, partly because the vehicles were in worse condition than we thought, and in addition, the ticket revenue has become significantly lower," says Dag Lokrantz-Bernitz.
The lower ticket revenue is primarily due to fewer travellers during the 2020-2022 pandemic, but also due to cancelled traffic west of Björkliden in recent months following the two derailments with ore trains.
But the underlying problem for Vy Tåg was that they won the tender with a very low tender. Vy Tåg only receives SEK 10-11.2 million annually from Trafikverket to run the night trains between Stockholm and Upper Norrland. The total compensation for the four years will be SEK 42.1 million. However, Vy Tåg must pay SEK 35 million per year to be allowed to use the Swedish Transport Administration's locomotives and wagons in the traffic in question. This means that traffic must generate a surplus of SEK 25 million per year for Vy Tåg to break even.
SJ, which ran the night trains until December 2020, received SEK 116 million per year but paid twice as much for the use of locomotives and carriages. SJ could consequently lose SEK 45 million per year for running the night trains and still report a zero profit.
...
Dan Lundholm, who is the contract administrator at the Swedish Transport Administration, confirms that the Swedish Transport Administration will carry out a direct allocation of the night train traffic for the two years December 2024-December 2026.
"It is too short a time to carry out a proper procurement of the traffic from December this year," he says. "In parallel with the preparations for the procurement of the night train traffic from December 2026, we are carrying out a direct allocation of the traffic in the next two years."
For my part, I'm not so sympathetic to Vy Tåg's argument. They bid incredibly low to operate a very complex pair of night train routes and didn't expect SJ to compete by launching commercial traffic on the Umeå-Gothenburg/Stockholm corridor.
Once again, the state has to step in and sort out a problem created by a private company. A direct procurement for 2 years will be announced in July. Only SJ, Snälltåget and possibly VR's new Swedish operation might be eligible. In all likelihood, SJ will get the 2 year direct procurement and then we start all over again with a new procurement in the next few years.