Who are you and what is your role in Plasser Scandinavia?
My name is Mikael Gustafsson, a middle-aged man with a passion for machinery that comes to life, people in general, football, and skiing, as long as I can ride the lift for a good while. I have been in the railway industry since 1994, and since 2013, I have been working with rail-based work machines and tools for railway maintenance and establishment. My role in Plasser Scandinavia is as the Robel Business Manager, and I have now been in my current position for 10 years.

What type of company is Plasser Scandinavia and what do you work with?
Plasser Scandinavia is a company with its own sales organization, spare parts supply, and service organization that operates and represents the complete product portfolio of these three companies throughout Scandinavia.

Plasser Scandinavia is the local representative for:
• Plasser & Theurer Export von Bahnbaumaschinen GmbH. https://www.plassertheurer.com/en/home
• ROBEL Bahnbaumaschinen GmbH. https://www.robel.com/en/company/
• Plasser Robel Services GmbH. https://pr-services.com/en/

We have offices and warehouses in Gentofte (CPH) and Oslo, from which we serve all of Scandinavia.

Why has Plasser Scandinavia decided to participate in Train & Rail?
The short and simple answer is that it is a new and hopefully attractive meeting point for existing and hopefully new contacts.

What is Plasser Scandinavia's goal with Train & Rail?
Somewhat linked to the above answer, primarily social and industry colleague meetings.

From your perspective, what is the most important question for the future of railways and how do you work with this question today?
As I see it, the most important thing is to upgrade the existing network in an environmentally and work-safe manner to achieve set goals, of course in a total economic way. I mean that we should tackle that maintenance debt in a sensible way, with the right equipment and implementation control. Then, network expansion should take place, and by that, I do not mean high-speed trains. We offer both work/environmentally optimized machines and solutions and equipment to actors involved in the maintenance and expansion of the railway network.

What do you wish from industry colleagues/decision-makers in order for society to better meet demand, economic frameworks, and climate goals for future railway transportation?As in the above question, secure a lasting total economic maintenance and expansion. Stronger collaboration throughout the chain, from client-subcontractor-timetable-user. I believe that only then can we reach the goal of railway transportation of people and goods. It will require investment in both implementation equipment and infrastructure, but in the long run, it will pay off.