"High-speed trains in Sweden have proven to be robust, socio-economically unprofitable," write researchers Maria Börjesson, Harry Flam, John Hassler, Lars Hultkrantz, Per Kågeson and Jan-Eric Nilsson in a DN debate.

In the article, they are addressed to the Christian Democrats' parliament where a decision on the issue will be made this weekend.

But the debate has been going on for a long time and the tours have been many.

Political disagreement

The Social Democrats, the Green Party, the Center Party and the Left Party remain positive, while the Moderates and the Sweden Democrats have said no and the Liberals are wavering.

S has wanted a broad agreement on the issue, but now the government has said they are prepared to proceed with the plans without agreement.

The big question regarding the fast trains is precisely the costs.

"Taxpayers get back so little money"

According to Maria Börjesson, professor of economics with a focus on transport at the Swedish Road and Transport Research Institute, VTI, high-speed railways are a losing business:

- The big argument against this is that it is so poor profitability, that taxpayers get back so little money, she tells SVT.

"Every krona invested is estimated to give 25 öre in income and societal benefit," she writes together with the five other researchers in Dagens Nyheter.

The price is expected to rise

The price tag on the new courses was also from the beginning of around 230 billion, but the project now risks costing around 400 billion according to the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce.

- It is so incredibly much money and the budget also seems to increase all the time, then you really wonder where this is going to end.

It is a concern about how public funds are used.

"A large environmental cost"

According to the researchers, the high-speed railways also take climate policy resources from more effective climate measures.

In the debate article, they write that high-speed railways will not repay the climate debt from the actual construction of them until towards the end of the century.

- There is no real talk about the environmental costs of steel, concrete and road transport for new tracks.

It is a big environmental cost, but it goes a little under the radar.