STOCKHOLM, June 4 (Xinhua) -- There has been a dramatic increase in railroad switch faults in Sweden, with 7,200 faults reported so far this year, statistics from the Swedish Transport Agency showed on Monday.
Swedish Television reported on the new figures, and found the number of faults on Swedish railroad switches had increased markedly in the past few months.
Almost as many faults were reported between Jan. 1 and May 23 of this year as during the whole of 2017. Last year, there were 9,000 railroad switch faults in total.
Just last week, several trains were cancelled due to a railroad switch fault at the central station of Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city.
"What we are seeing are the results of a tough winter, where the extreme cold and the dramatic shifts in temperature have been difficult," said Swedish Transport Agency press spokesman Bengt Olsson.
Olsson added that while the weather was the main reason behind the faults, he said authorities must also get better at restoring and fixing the problems.
However, Swedish Television spoke to a number of experts who claim that the problem is also that many switches are old and should have been replaced a long time ago. Internal inquiries show that 10 percent of Sweden's railroad switches have passed their estimated best-by dates.
Since it is expensive to replace an entire system, the Swedish Transport Agency often decides to repair existing ones and change individual components.
"It is a question of finances. We try to estimate what resources we have available and then this is a solution we have to work with," Olsson said, adding he does not really see any problems with the method.
Olsson also said that while there has been a lack of resources to make any major changes in the past, things are different now in that more railroad switches are being replaced.
In recent years, 30 to 50 worn-out switches have been replaced annually in Sweden, according to the Swedish Transport Agency. In the next five years, the aim is replace around twice as many.
