“Buy rapid train transports – not high speed trains” was the title of a debate article by Johan Nordlander, Ingvar Johansson and Charles published (in Swedish) in the weekly magazine “Ny Teknk” on June 11, 2019. One theme in the article is that politicians and public officials should not, beforehand, choose technologies in public procurement because it makes innovations impossible. We also present an alternative idea for rapid train transports: a train that never stops. Instead railcars are docking to the main train in full speed. This provides advantages with regard to transport times, integration of the countryside, sustainability and investment costs – which we discuss in the article.

However, if a train system is described in detail before the tenders are presented by the potential suppliers, the procurer will get exactly the system described. To make creativity, innovation and increased competition possible, the procurer should, instead, describe a problem that he wants solved by means of functions that the new system should provide. This is called “functional procurement” and should replace “product procurement” in the name of creativity, innovation and sustainability. It should be mentioned that public procurement amounts to 17.5 percent of GDP in Sweden – spent every year. This is more than all of industrial production. The article can be found here: https://www.nyteknik.se/opinion/kop-snabba-tagtransporter-inte-hoghastighetstag-6958762  (Three days after publication there were 65 written contributions in the comment field.)