Alstom has signed a 12-year technical support and spare parts agreement with LKAB Malmtrafik, covering the locomotive fleet used in Sweden’s iron ore transport system.
The contract covers 34 locomotives, mainly the IORE heavy-haul units operating on the Malmbanan corridor in northern Sweden. These trains handle some of Europe’s heaviest freight operations and run year-round in Arctic conditions, making reliability and maintenance a critical part of the supply chain for the mining and steel sectors.
Under the agreement, Alstom will provide long-term technical support, spare parts supply, logistics, component overhauls and obsolescence management. Bogie revisions will be carried out in Luleå, while traction and auxiliary converter work will be handled at Alstom’s component workshop in Västerås. Operations will also be supported by a dedicated warehouse in Kiruna.
The new deal extends a long-standing relationship between the two companies dating back to the delivery of the IORE locomotives in 2001. Maintenance and support agreements have been in place since 2007 and were previously renegotiated in 2016. Alongside the new service contract, Alstom is also modernising the fleet, including technical upgrades and the installation of ERTMS/ETCS.
For Sweden, the agreement goes beyond fleet maintenance alone. LKAB Malmtrafik’s trains are a core link between iron ore production in the north and export flows serving the wider steel industry. Stable operation of the fleet is therefore directly tied to industrial output, export revenues and supply security.
"Secure and predictable rail operations are fundamental to our mining and logistics operations," said Catarina Albertsson, Head of Locomotives and Railway Wagons at LKAB Malmtrafik. She said the long-term agreement provides the stability needed to plan production and deliveries.
For the wider European freight market, the contract underlines the strategic role of long-term maintenance and lifecycle support in heavy-haul rail operations, especially where rail serves as critical infrastructure for industrial production and export logistics.
