An odd benefit of booking a multi-ticket cross border trip from/to Sweden in one transaction is that we can, according to Swedish rules, remove the VAT even on a domestic ticket as long as it is part of an international journey.
Stefan Lindbohm
@stefanlindbohm
- 664 Followers
- 38 Following
- 1,095 Posts
Founder of Railfinder – https://www.railfinder.eu
VAT for cross-border rail is fun
(Work in progress to enable deeper ticket coverage in certain cases.)
Yay, I can get security updates while still avoiding the glass disaster!
(These were since December not offered for phones that support iOS 26, but are again now. I was just about to decide not to test my luck any longer but procrastination was a good thing this time!)
Being linked to on Mastodon is a minor DDOS every time as everyone’s instances fetch the preview card for the post.
Normally not a problem except on our page of results which is heavy to render with all info and sometimes our web servers get tripped over by the load for a few minutes. I really should make some changes to lazy load the heavy stuff in these cases 😬
(But please continue linking – that is intended to work!)
@jon The agency’s letter to the government following the case is very interesting reading for anyone thinking about this. This is a national authority outlining what they deem to be effective and ineffective paths to improve access & services.
TLDR: They judge independent booking portals are necessary, but unlikely to appear without supporting legislation. And that lack of this also hinders open access operators plans.
(Conclusions from page 8)
Apparently the Swedish Competition Authority ruled in 2019, in a case brought by two open access operators, that forcing the incumbent operator to sell competitors in their dominant sales channel would be an ineffective measure.
Instead they propose to legislate fair conditions for independent booking portals to emerge. AFAIK, this was not followed up by legislators.
Interesting context from a national authority in regards to the upcoming EU proposals.
https://www.konkurrensverket.se/konkurrens/tillsyn-arenden-och-beslut/arendelista/sj-ab2/
For reference: Follow up interview/analysis with Magnus Olofsson from KTH/Resenärerna at 78:42. Pretty harsh criticism regarding claimed comfort and economics of these carriages (and thus risk of high ticket prices and potentially killing the concept).
More details about today’s announcement of Talgo coaches for Swedish night trains in this radio interview (at 44:55)
- Coaches by Talgo
- Locos by Siemens
- Three comforts: 4-bed, 2-bed with wc/shower, and some fuzzily defined solo compartment
- Same capacity as today’s fleet
- Claim of ”high comfort”, but focusing on temperature and sound insulation and wifi
- Of course they say they think it will run as promised in 2030
miniBill (Leonardo)@stefanlindbohm I hadn't used Railfinder in a while and _damn_, it's so good now? I tried some of the routes it had failed on in the past and a couple new ones and it gave me complete, sensible options? I just... looked at them and went "Yupp, that is the reasonable way to do it" for basically each one?
Massive kudos, this is a game changer ~~the only game where...~~
Update on SJ’s new trains & connection to Copenhagen:
• The new 250 km/h Avelia Stream Nordic (ex Zefiro Express) will be called X250 by SJ. Estimated for timetable 28 (December 2027). First on Gothenburg - Copenhagen.
• New CAF regional trains will be class X45 and start replacing current X40 on Gothenburg - Stockholm, maybe starting as soon as December this year
• Reintroduction of X2000 Stockholm - Copenhagen is pending Danish approval for the upgraded trainsets
