This study investigates the extent and nature of the interaction between the political, institutional andeconomical development in the Swedish railway sector 1920-1980. The work deals with two main issuse,which may be summarized in the following question: has the Swedish railway policy contributed to orcounterbalanced the stagnation of the railways, especially in the post-war period? The basic premise has beenthat the institutional framework from the 19th century, was well adjusted to the requirements in thecontemporary industrialization process. The adaption of the regulations, obligations and economic principlesfrom the inter-war years and henceforth was more problematic. A growing discrepancy between economicconditions and policy goals emerged. Ulis affected the function of the Sate Railways (SJ).The interesting issue is to explain the process of renewal and abandonment of the original institutionalarrangements. There are two distinctive driving forces in this process. Firstly the demand for transport in theeconomy of the society changed. This interacted with the expansion of motorvehicles. Motor vehicles, and lateron civil aviation, have taken over parts of traditional railway transports. Of greater significance though, is thefact that railways have not been able to compete with motorvehicles on a number of growing markets in theeconomy of society. This has been of major importance to the diminishing economic returns and the decliningcompany profitability in the railway sector. The second driving force is to be found in the institutional setting inthe railway sector. The institutional principles and the railway policy gave social and economic responsibilitypriority over business profitability as the managerial strategy for SJ. SJ was used to fulfil regional and generaleconomic policy goals. As a consequence the unprofitable private railways were nationalized to save theregional transport system. To succeed on the competitive transport market in the post-war period it becamenecessary for SJ to act as a profit-seeking company. This created a long period of political struggle inParliament concerning the institutional principles. In order to keep the social economic principles, the monetaryclaims were reduced. Subsidies were given to try to save SJ s profitability as a business company. The mixtureof social and monetary principles from 1960 and onwards, could neither solve the railway's market problems,nor could they keep the regional railway system intact. This failure led to the abandonment of the originalinstitutional framework. In the late 1980 s it was totally replaced. Hie guiding rules for the State Railways arenow concentrated on competition and company profitability. / digitalisering@umu

In this dissertation the construction of two coastal railways, the East Coast Line and the Bothnia Line, in the Norrland region of northern Sweden is used as a case study of how regionally based interest groups are formed, and how they gain access to decision-making processes on a national level. In periods when a number of preconditions were in place, a window of opportunity opened for the coastal railway that the regional elites could exploit. Among these was the ability to form a coherent regional interest group, through institutions that created platforms and power-bases that enable regional elites to co-operate and act on regional and national levels.The existence of an institutional framework that was adapitve towards regional railway promotion was also important. The study shows that the coastal railway had a very flexible role on the agenda, as it provided a fixed solution against which actors could pin a multitude of different problems. An important factor for explaining the development of the coastal railway question in Norrland was the ideological notion of the region itself. Being a vast, resource-rich and sparsely populated region, Norrland had almost always received special consideration in both public opinion and national policy making. It also created a remarkable stubbornness among the regional actors in working for the coastal railway. Regional interest groups had also learnt that linking their claims to Norrland's peripheral position had high legitimacy on the national arena, by claiming the need for regional fairness and/or the national importance of the regional export-intensive industries. This was instrumental in justifying the repeated exemptions from the national railway policy regimes that ultimately were decissive in making the regional elites successful.

<p>In this dissertation the construction of two coastal railways, the East Coast Line and the Bothnia Line, in the <i>Norrland</i> region of northern Sweden is used as a case study of how regionally based interest groups are formed, and how they gain access to decision-making processes on a national level. In periods when a number of preconditions were in place, a window of opportunity opened for the coastal railway that the regional elites could exploit. Among these was the ability to form a coherent regional interest group, through institutions that created platforms and power-bases that enable regional elites to co-operate and act on regional and national levels.The existence of an institutional framework that was adapitve towards regional railway promotion was also important. The study shows that the coastal railway had a very flexible role on the agenda, as it provided a fixed solution against which actors could pin a multitude of different problems. An important factor for explaining the development of the coastal railway question in <i>Norrland</i> was the ideological notion of the region itself. Being a vast, resource-rich and sparsely populated region, <i>Norrland</i> had almost always received special consideration in both public opinion and national policy making. It also created a remarkable stubbornness among the regional actors in working for the coastal railway. Regional interest groups had also learnt that linking their claims to <i>Norrland's </i>peripheral position had high legitimacy on the national arena, by claiming the need for regional fairness and/or the national importance of the regional export-intensive industries. This was instrumental in justifying the repeated exemptions from the national railway policy regimes that ultimately were decissive in making the regional elites successful.</p>

In this dissertation the construction of two coastal railways, the East Coast Line and the Bothnia Line, in the Norrland region of northern Sweden is used as a case study of how regionally based interest groups are formed, and how they gain access to decision-making processes on a national level. In periods when a number of preconditions were in place, a window of opportunity opened for the coastal railway that the regional elites could exploit. Among these was the ability to form a coherent regional interest group, through institutions that created platforms and power-bases that enable regional elites to co-operate and act on regional and national levels.The existence of an institutional framework that was adapitve towards regional railway promotion was also important. The study shows that the coastal railway had a very flexible role on the agenda, as it provided a fixed solution against which actors could pin a multitude of different problems. An important factor for explaining the development of the coastal railway question in Norrland was the ideological notion of the region itself. Being a vast, resource-rich and sparsely populated region, Norrland had almost always received special consideration in both public opinion and national policy making. It also created a remarkable stubbornness among the regional actors in working for the coastal railway. Regional interest groups had also learnt that linking their claims to Norrland's peripheral position had high legitimacy on the national arena, by claiming the need for regional fairness and/or the national importance of the regional export-intensive industries. This was instrumental in justifying the repeated exemptions from the national railway policy regimes that ultimately were decissive in making the regional elites successful.