On 27 April Deutsche Bahn announced a successful new joint venture abroad. Together with its partner, Swedish national passenger operator SJ, the German Railways’ subsidiary DB Regio Sverige has been selected to operate regional passenger services in northern Sweden. The so-called Norrtåg network, still partly under construction, will begin services in stages starting in August 2010, with anticipated yearly transport volumes of 4.7 million train-km by 2013 and the potential to increase this figure by 2.2 million. The contract runs for six years until August 2016, with an option for a five-year extension (source: DB).