Sj’s Ronny Pörstrand says that passengers have been offered food from the train's cafe.
UPDATE: 13:15
According to information from SJ, the journey north continued at 12.17. This was done with a replacement bus, according to Trafikverket.
The train, which departed Stockholm around 6 p.m. Monday, came to a halt in Bastuträsk shortly after 3:30 a.m. last night and remains there. According to information provided to Norran, several taxis were dispatched to pick up some passengers.
– Train 94 has been stationary since last night, that’s correct. It’s due to an overhead line fault, but I can’t say why it happened, so I have to refer to Trafikverket, says Ronny Pörstrand.
The train is northbound.
– It’s just unfortunate, we can’t influence the situation that has arisen.
When asked about assisting passengers, Ronny Pörstrand replied:
– Right now they are being served food from our onboard bistro. That’s all we can offer.
Niklas Andrén from Ystad, a passenger en route to Abisko, commented:
– At the moment we haven’t received any information about when it will be resolved. Personally, I’m not missing anything, it’s just a bit delayed. It’s probably worse for those waiting for connections and such, he says and continues:
– I’ve managed to get hold of some water, and I’ve got plenty of snus, so I’m doing just fine.
Niklas Andrén is a passenger on the train that has been stranded since last night
Nils Numan from Nora, en route to Niemiholm outside Niemisel, shared his experience:
– We don’t know much, they have no information to give. But at least I’ve been helped to rebook to a bus. So it’s worked out reasonably well. It’ll be a bus to Skellefteå and then on to Luleå. I’ll be about six and a half hours delayed.
Numan also offered his opinion on the underlying issue:
– This is what happens when they split up railway operations, trains and tracks. If it was all under one company it would work better, but now there’s no overall responsibility.
Passenger Nils Numan is instead taking a bus to Skellefteå and then continuing on to Luleå.
– I will be about six and a half hours late, he says
Ronny Pörstrand says the forecast is that the fault will be fixed by around 9 am, but when Norran reaches Trafikverket there is no forecast. The authority does not yet know what caused the fault.
– We’ve had staff on site since 5.50 am who are troubleshooting. That’s the information I’ve been given, says Emely Hornborn, press officer at Trafikverket.
Maj-Britt Hägglund Westermark and Ingela Caswell are making sandwiches for the stranded passengers.
Train station owners Gunnar Westermark and Maj-Britt Hägglund Westermark were busy in the cafeteria, assisted by Ingela Caswell, chairperson of Bastuträsk community council.
They were preparing small dishes and sandwiches for the stranded passengers.
– It’s full on. We’re making sandwiches for as many as possible, says Maj-Britt.
She criticised SJ for failing to inform them that 500 passengers were stuck at their station.
– If we had known about this earlier, we could have been here sooner. We’ve done this before. Recently there have been three occasions when trains were at least three hours late without us getting any info. We can help out, but only as long as we know about it.
Passengers are being served food in the train station café. – it’s all hands on deck, says the station’s co-owner Maj-Britt Hägglund
Lennart Enkvist from Norran is at Bastuträsk train station.
– There are plenty of people outside, many who are going out to get fresh air and find water. It seems that many of the passengers who are going further up north to hike in the mountains, he says