Sweden also stopped investing in infrastructure in the 1980s but not because of privatisation. It’s just very expensive. Now everyone one is blaming each other when everything breaks down, especially politicians that are no longer in the government. There is no “accountability” for the government.
The child in me takes some twisted pleasure in hearing of Scandinavians suffering from similar problems to us over here who seem to be unable to right the ship. Maybe it’s a misery loves company thing. Maybe it’s because I think the more of us suffer, the quicker we can all work together on a larger scale to come up with a fix. Just feels a bit hopeless at times, and I guess it’s by design.
And I wish the best for you in Sweden, I don’t mean to suggest I am hoping for your failure at all. I just see a picture painted here and on Reddit so frequently of a bustling utopia, and it can be a little demoralizing at times.
Same shit different day it feels like. I just don’t know what it’ll take for a full on workforce strike. Whoever is pulling the strings does a great job balancing taking away our liberties with working us to the bone.
You’re absolutely right though, and it just leaves me feeling like what now, what do we do? And then we fight over stuff amongst each other.
Do guerrilla rail, figure out the nearest land contiguous place with a smart grid, and the nearest place with coherent train signalling. if their system isnt shit, adopt the standard. If it is shit, look up whatever the Japanese are using and rip off their shit. Block by block. Just appropriate a traffic lane, say the outside one.
Its not the best way, but I do genuinely think people could fund construction and maintenance of rail lines on their streets. Making them IT and electrical arteries as well (you’re already running communication and high voltage lines, possibly small wireless solar setups for signal redundancy) makes sense. Get rural broadband and really good fucking economical transit.
I wish there were a community of extremely obsessive online rail nerds that could be tapped to plan something like this, down to the level of a proper network (with like the tiny tolerances you get in modern rails), so we could just, like, look up our blocks and order the necessary parts off a list and start building.
I find it depressing/reassuring in equal measure because whilst Scandinavia is better in many respects, it’s still no escape from the dominance of neoliberalism.
One of the forces that drove neoliberalism is globalisation, so it feels intuitive to me that neoliberalism itself is a global problem. Like all economic paradigms, it’ll be unseated by something else, hopefully sooner rather than later. A post-neoliberal US would look quite different to a post-neoliberal Scandinavia, and I can’t imagine either of those, but when change happens, I reckon it’ll be a global thing.
I remember when driving from Finland to Sweden, the road quality markedly dropped when we crossed the border. I found that funny, because I was sharing a car with some friends who had had an unfortunate time in Sweden and they joked that the sudden dip in road quality was more evidence of Sweden being cursed.
Stories like this will always by its nature opinionated. There will have been expenses made but who can say it was enough? That was kind of my point in the original posy though, that it’s very easy to blame someone or something. Here are some pieces that may paint the picture of Swedish rail. I will leave translation to the reader rather than trying to do that myself.
Everyone seems to agree that investments are needed but no one wants to invest:
Wikipedia, citing a lot of dates. Excerpt: “Denna nedläggningsutveckling påbörjades strax före andra världskrigets utbrott (bland annat nedläggning av linjen Lund–Bjärred våren 1939), stannade av under kriget, accelererade på 1950-talet, nådde en topp kring 1965, gick sedan nedåt för att nå en ny nedläggningsvåg i mitten och slutet av 1980-talet.” https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sveriges_järnvägshistoria
But I was told that Sweden is a socialist utopian paradise where there is no right wing, all the cities, bridges, and sidewalks are clean, new, and shiny, you can walk or cycle everywhere 365 days a year, free healthcare and lollipops are offered on every street corner, and everyone is happy and productive all the time!
You can just look at any objective metric of wealth or wellbeing and notice Sweden very often near the top of the list. You don’t need to invent some theoretical internet opinion in your head to be mad at.
It’s thoroughly capitalist, but most people pay hefty taxes so public funding is in a much better place than most countries.
But no right wing is wild. There’s quite a hefty following down south and historically Sweden was “neutral” in WW2 which included selling to the Nazis and transporting their troops around.
Sweden also stopped investing in infrastructure in the 1980s but not because of privatisation. It’s just very expensive. Now everyone one is blaming each other when everything breaks down, especially politicians that are no longer in the government. There is no “accountability” for the government.
The child in me takes some twisted pleasure in hearing of Scandinavians suffering from similar problems to us over here who seem to be unable to right the ship. Maybe it’s a misery loves company thing. Maybe it’s because I think the more of us suffer, the quicker we can all work together on a larger scale to come up with a fix. Just feels a bit hopeless at times, and I guess it’s by design.
And I wish the best for you in Sweden, I don’t mean to suggest I am hoping for your failure at all. I just see a picture painted here and on Reddit so frequently of a bustling utopia, and it can be a little demoralizing at times.
I’d love to share that line of thought, but then I remember the COVID response and that initial plan for a patent free vaccine.
Same shit different day it feels like. I just don’t know what it’ll take for a full on workforce strike. Whoever is pulling the strings does a great job balancing taking away our liberties with working us to the bone.
You’re absolutely right though, and it just leaves me feeling like what now, what do we do? And then we fight over stuff amongst each other.
Do guerrilla rail, figure out the nearest land contiguous place with a smart grid, and the nearest place with coherent train signalling. if their system isnt shit, adopt the standard. If it is shit, look up whatever the Japanese are using and rip off their shit. Block by block. Just appropriate a traffic lane, say the outside one.
Its not the best way, but I do genuinely think people could fund construction and maintenance of rail lines on their streets. Making them IT and electrical arteries as well (you’re already running communication and high voltage lines, possibly small wireless solar setups for signal redundancy) makes sense. Get rural broadband and really good fucking economical transit.
I wish there were a community of extremely obsessive online rail nerds that could be tapped to plan something like this, down to the level of a proper network (with like the tiny tolerances you get in modern rails), so we could just, like, look up our blocks and order the necessary parts off a list and start building.
‘Us’ starts with u.
Love the energy but cant understand how it would work or what it would achieve.
Being able to get around, eventually.
I find it depressing/reassuring in equal measure because whilst Scandinavia is better in many respects, it’s still no escape from the dominance of neoliberalism.
One of the forces that drove neoliberalism is globalisation, so it feels intuitive to me that neoliberalism itself is a global problem. Like all economic paradigms, it’ll be unseated by something else, hopefully sooner rather than later. A post-neoliberal US would look quite different to a post-neoliberal Scandinavia, and I can’t imagine either of those, but when change happens, I reckon it’ll be a global thing.
I remember when driving from Finland to Sweden, the road quality markedly dropped when we crossed the border. I found that funny, because I was sharing a car with some friends who had had an unfortunate time in Sweden and they joked that the sudden dip in road quality was more evidence of Sweden being cursed.
Any source for that?
Edit: not sure why I’m getting downvoted, just wanted to verify that.
Stories like this will always by its nature opinionated. There will have been expenses made but who can say it was enough? That was kind of my point in the original posy though, that it’s very easy to blame someone or something. Here are some pieces that may paint the picture of Swedish rail. I will leave translation to the reader rather than trying to do that myself.
Everyone seems to agree that investments are needed but no one wants to invest:
Opinion piece (2024, Left), “Everyone is blaming anyone else”: “I Sverige är järnvägen ett virrvarr där alla skyller på andra och ingen tar ansvar för att tågen kommer fram i tid.” https://jarnvagar.nu/det-kravs-storre-satsningar-pa-jarnvagen/
Government statement 2022: “Behoven inom infrastrukturen är stora och en satsning på höghastighetsjärnväg skulle tränga undan andra nödvändiga investeringar.” https://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2022/12/regeringen-lagger-om-vaxlarna-for-jarnvagsinfrastrukturen/
Opinion piece 2014, blaming the creation of SJ 1988 [Wikipedia says SJ was founded 2001, weird]: “Järnvägssystemet har brutits sönder och fel bannedläggningar gjorts under mer än 50 år.” https://www.dagenssamhalle.se/samhalle-och-valfard/infrastruktur/tagexperter-den-svenska-jarnvagen-har-havererat/
Wikipedia, citing a lot of dates. Excerpt: “Denna nedläggningsutveckling påbörjades strax före andra världskrigets utbrott (bland annat nedläggning av linjen Lund–Bjärred våren 1939), stannade av under kriget, accelererade på 1950-talet, nådde en topp kring 1965, gick sedan nedåt för att nå en ny nedläggningsvåg i mitten och slutet av 1980-talet.” https://sv.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sveriges_järnvägshistoria
*Opinion piece (2023, Right): “Det bedrövliga tillståndet för den svenska järnvägen är ovanligt tydligt just nu. Decennier av bristande underhåll har skapat ett järnvägssystem med stora – och växande – brister.” https://www.di.se/ledare/lyssna-pa-wallenberg-och-storsatsa-pa-jarnvagen/
But I was told that Sweden is a socialist utopian paradise where there is no right wing, all the cities, bridges, and sidewalks are clean, new, and shiny, you can walk or cycle everywhere 365 days a year, free healthcare and lollipops are offered on every street corner, and everyone is happy and productive all the time!
Did the internet lie to me???
You can just look at any objective metric of wealth or wellbeing and notice Sweden very often near the top of the list. You don’t need to invent some theoretical internet opinion in your head to be mad at.
This is a good one, I’m going to remember it for use in every other thread
It’s thoroughly capitalist, but most people pay hefty taxes so public funding is in a much better place than most countries.
But no right wing is wild. There’s quite a hefty following down south and historically Sweden was “neutral” in WW2 which included selling to the Nazis and transporting their troops around.
This might be revisionism but laying down flat and doing your enemy’s bidding is the same as joining them.
It’s pretty accurate though.