The cost of the rail fire in Hässleholm: SEK 30 million

The railway is now fully restored after the big fire in Hässleholm on August 14. For the Swedish Transport Administration, the final note will end up in multimillion amounts, a cost that corresponds to building a brand new yard.

The contractors worked in shifts around the clock for almost a week, at the same time as materials were borrowed from other railway projects.

- Our full focus has been on the restoration work of the plant and we currently only have a rough estimate of the cost. Our assessment right now is that the direct costs of restoring the plant are in the order of SEK 25-30 million, says Annika Canaki, district manager of the Swedish Transport Administration.

Where should the money be taken from?

- We have requested more money for the south district. This is not something we can finance regionally and nothing we have been able to plan for. This is likely to happen through some form of re-prioritization, seen from a national perspective, says Annika Canaki.

The Swedish Transport Administration's top management gives the same message. The authority must re-prioritize the money that the government has already allocated to them. How it will happen is not yet determined.

When the emergency service received the alarm, it was already severely burned in the freight store and nearby contact lines. It ignited large flames and the focus was on preventing the spread to nearby properties.

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The rescue service's assessment is that the damage to the railway could not have been less extensive. They are currently conducting an investigation into the work on site.

For Skånetrafiken, the total landed at approximately SEK 10 million, including for the replacement buses they deployed in connection with the train stop after the fire.