European Railroad Discussion > Vital Ore Line Between Sweden & Norway Blocked By Derailment

On December 18, 2023, 12 LKAB ore cars/wagons derailed in the combination snow shed/tunnel at Vassijaure, Sweden near the Norwegian border.  Initially, it was hoped the line would reopen at the end of December.  The extensive damage hampered by heavy snow and low temperatures prevented the line from being opened at that time.  It was discovered that approximately 25,000 ties/sleepers would have to be replaced before the line could once again take traffic.The January timelines have slipped to where February 8th is now the reopening target date.  A series of test runs are planned prior to reopening for loaded traffic.  

In the meantime, the iron ore commodity is being stockpiled.  Normal traffic is 10/12 trains each way, each day.  It is expected initial traffic will exceed that number.  Bear in mind, this line is approximately 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle.

The photos are courtesy of LKAB.

Sven Molson



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/24 17:47 by SvenMolson.

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Vassijaure under better conditions.

Stay tuned for updates.

Sven Molson

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Thanks Sven for the photos and info.  What is the large building we see?  Perhaps the wreckage was not too remote from civilization.
jb

boejoe Wrote:
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> Thanks Sven for the photos and info.  What is the
> large building we see?  Perhaps the wreckage was
> not too remote from civilization.
> jb

The large building is the Vassijaure Station where 
train crews were changed from Swedish to Norwegian or
vice versa. It is now a museum. Population up
there is very sparse



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/03/24 17:13 by SOO6617.

Well, the building is one of the now longer functional substations.  There are about 4 or 4 between Narvik and Kiruna.  Some are private homes.

sven

Thanks for the update. I can't tell if loaded or empty. It sure is dark and dreary up there in winter. It was no picnic in June!

It's not bad, you kind of get used to it.  
 

This was Vassijaure, Sweden, station 03.06.2012.  In the first picture, the left (north) 3/4 of the building was the electric substation.  That's how much space was needed to control the electricity that powered the trains before the transistor was invented at Bell Labs in 1947 by Bardeen, Brattain and Shockley.  They got a Nobel Prize in physics for that in 1956.  The right 1/4 of the first floor was the passenger station.  The waiting room and museum was open when my son and I were there.  I think the second floor was a dormitory for station agents and train crews.  This is about 1,000 miles by railroad from Stockholm.

There are two other similar buildings at Tornatrask and Abisko Östra.

From the pictures of the derailment, above, the train appears to be of w/b iron ore loads.

Gerry

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Sven, thanks for this incredible post.  Very interesting 120 miles north of the Arctic circle.  We have been to Sweden our daughter married a young man from there you may have heard of him, Ludwig Gorensson.  Beautiful country!
Blaine
American Fork

Is the cause of the derailment known ?

SZ

Nothing has been released from the authorities to date.

Sven