Since SJ’s monopoly of the Swedish railway were abolished, 2010, several players have entered the railway market. Now there are competitors like MTR Express, Transdev and soon Flixtrain. Although it demonstrated the state railway company good results in this year’s first quarterly report that was presented Thursday.
Travel increased by eight per cent in comparison with the corresponding period of the previous year. Similarly, the company with a profit of sek 130 million, which stands up strongly in comparison with the same period last year, when the profit landed at sek 60 million.
is a samhällstrend that only looks to increase. The environment and sustainability are two factors that affect both private individuals and business travellers to book a train ticket instead of a plane ticket. Train travel has increased in recent years and to continue to grow, the operators do get the travelers to choose their journeys.
for 2015, the elements SJ on the Swedish railway including the MTR Express, which also operates the metro in Stockholm, and Transved running ”Snälltåget”. MTR Express, and the state railway company is a year ago, back in a conflict.
the Background is that MTR Express refused to sell train tickets on SJ’s website. Last year, the company submitted a complaint to the Fca, claiming that SJ is abusing its dominant position.
“We need a competitively neutral ticketing system to be able to conduct the good competition on the railways,” says Mats Johannesson, ceo of MTR Express.
is positive for the industry. But for it to function required prerequisites for all actors to operate at the same level. In addition, the company is concentrating on the trains to be as punctual as possible. Just like SJ, they also want to develop the digitisation within the company.
looking forward, the way railway companies are managed are forced to share their routes with a new actor. German owned Flixbus, who previously bought Swebus, left at the beginning of the year submitted an application to the Dmv to get permission to run trains under the name Flixtrain. The application is for the popular routes Stockholm to Gothenburg, Stockholm, Malmö and Gothenburg.
in order to do well in Sweden, the strongest advantage is our business model, which in the past has shown itself competitive, ” says Peter Ahlgren, president and ceo for the Nordic region, on the Flixbus.
Flixbus will sell their tickets only on their own website or app.
– Our own försäljningsplattform means that we do not end up in a situation of dependence. The MTR, for example, have been dependent on another party, ” says Peter Ahlgren.
– The more players we are, the less space on the rails are there, it is also important that more than just SJ attractive times on the rails, ” he says.
If the application will be approved is expected the trains to roll during the first half of 2020. Exactly what tågmodeller the company is betting on, remains to be seen. Right now Flixbus dialogue with future partners who will own and run the trains.