SWEDISH infrastructure manager Trafikverket has commenced the second and final phase of a project to replace track between Kiruna and Gällivare on the Kiruna - Narvik Ore Line in the far north of the country.
The upgrades will improve reliability and maintainability of the railway, which suffered two high-profile derailments in winter 2023-24 that closed the line for a total of three months. It will also increase the maximum axle load to 30 tonnes.
Work is taking place on the 53km section between Råtsi and Håmojåkk. It follows the completion of the initial 36km section between Håmojåkk and Gällivare last summer.
“This is work that has been planned for a long time and is of utmost importance for us to have a robust and reliable railway system,” says Urban Kauma, project manager at Trafikverket.
“The track replacement means that rails, sleepers and ballast are replaced using track replacement trains and ballast cleaning trains.”
Derailment report
The final report into the derailment at Tornehamn on the Kiruna - Narvik line on December 17 2023 was published on May 22. It confirmed that a faulty wheel was the cause of the derailment of the loaded train operated by LKAB Malmtrafik. After derailing, the train continued over a distance of 15km, causing significant damage to the track. Several other wagons derailed at Vassijaure station, causing damage to infrastructure. No one was injured in the accident.
The investigation revealed that the wheel fractured from the running surface to the hub of the wheel axle, losing its press fit at the hub. This allowed the wheel to move inwards along the axle and derail inside the right rail in the direction of travel. The fracture initiated from a fatigue crack at the back of the wheel flange and progressed as a rapid brittle fracture along the entire length of the crack to the hub.
The report says that the wheel damage was likely caused by a combination of unfavourable and interacting factors that had not previously been assessed in relation to the risks of fatigue cracks in the flange and brittle fracture in the hub. In light of the measures taken or planned by LKAB and Chalmers University of Technology, the report’s authors did not make any safety recommendations.
ETCS
Meanwhile, Trafikverket confirmed that on May 6 ETCS was activated between Koijuvaara and Bergfors on the Kiruna - Gällivare section of the Ore Line, and Aptas and Pitkijärvi on the Svappavaara branch that runs southeast from Kiruna.
This is the fourth and fifth sections of the Ore Line where ETCS is now active, the first deployment of the technology on a Swedish mainline. The system initially activated in September 2024 and work is continuing to extend coverage on the entire line to the Norwegian border.
