The Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor (ScanMed) is experiencing a rebound in volume and performance in 2024. The infrastructure managers (IMs) of the involved countries attribute the rebound primarily to completion of works along the corridor.
ScanMed saw route sales along the corridor grow until 2021. By 2023, sales had more than halved. The IMs’ annual report now shows that sales are up by 25 per cent in comparison to last year. However, they remain at approximately half of the 2021 high.
The corridor sells capacity on so-called Pre-arranged Paths (PaPs). These are train paths that the corridor’s IMs predetermine. They follow a timetable, which is published on an online platform where capacity along the route is allocated. Capacity is allocated in the preceding year, which is why data for 2024 is already available.
In 2023, there was a large number of temporary capacity restrictions. Subsequently, ScanMed could not offer PaPs on relatively many days, leading to a drop in sold PaPs.
However, customers request a total of 3,9 million PaP kilometres for 2024, up by 25 per cent from 2023. The primary reason for this growth is the completion of works in Denmark and Germany on the Maschen-Malmö section of the corridor. This greatly increased the number of days on which ScanMed could offer PaPs.
Performance trends in 2023
The ScanMed IMs state that punctuality along the corridor has remained virtually unchanged. However, the amount of delays caused by the infrastructure managers or by rail undertakings has decreased. On the other hand, delays induced by adverse weather conditions, strikes and accidents have increased. The two cancelled each other out, leading to punctuality being approximately equal to 2022.
According to the IMs, punctuality was particularly bad in the northern part of the corridor between Maschen and Malmö. In contrast, punctuality on the corridor’s southern end improved throughout 2023, for which the ScanMed organisation credits the cooperating infrastructure managers in the region.
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