Evaluation of potential improvements in freight rail transport – Case of a Swedish rail company

Although rail transport is considered as energy efficient and environmental friendly mode of transport there are many hindrances towards increased use of rail for freight transport. The two main hindrances identified in Sweden are priority of passenger over freight rail transport and the fact that rail network has almost reached its capacity. Therefore the purpose of the paper is to evaluate potential improvements in the freight rail transport related to different areas of capacity utilization on a case of a rail company in Sweden. For this qualitative study the data is collected through interviews with the company’s employees, both on operational and management level, as well as with Swedish Transport Authority. Analysed improvement areas with focus on capacity utilization include optimization of the maximum capacity of each train on a specific route and the formation of more even freight flow with limited variation both during a day as well as during a week. The findings show that operations could be significantly improved if the following suggestions are taken into consideration; focus on local planning, creation of anchor blocks, establishment of customers priority system and repositioning of the main shunting yard