According to Simon Sunna, section chief for maintenance at the Swedish Transport Administration in Region North, the entire maintenance budget for the northern region is 5.6 billion kronor this year.
We have mobilized from all of rail-Sweden to succeed, which means that the restoration cost will be high, he says to the radio.
It was just before Christmas last year that a freight train derailed on one of Sweden's most important railways for goods transport. The incident resulted in the destruction of one and a half miles of the railway between Kiruna and Narvik. Since then, between 150 and 200 people have worked under tough conditions to restore the track.
Traffic was at a standstill for three months, and even the state-owned LKAB lost many billions in revenue.
There was no alternative to the track not functioning, says Sunna to Ekot.
