Sweden’s new overnight train from Stockholm to Hamburg is up and running, but it’s minus the restaurant car, the luxurious roomette cars and even the sit-up-and-sleep coaches, due to a dispute with Denmark over certifying the cars. Only three cars equipped with bunk beds made the grade.
A press spokesman for SJ, the Swedish rail operator, told reporters that “When we hired the carriages, we hired them as ‘accepted for traffic in Europe,’ including Denmark and Germany, and we could never have predicted that Denmark would have interpreted a new EU directive as they did, meaning they cannot give us permission.”
The cars were leased from Germany, where they were certified, but the Danish rail authority now claims that a new EU law prevents them from giving approval. Denmark says they told SJ about the problem at the start of summer, but SJ had hoped it would be resolved by now.
