Secrets of the Railways

The small Swedish town of Kiruna exists to service a gigantic iron-ore mining complex deep underground in one of the most inhospitable regions on earth. But it’s these very mines that will shortly lead to Kiruna’s destruction, because it’s sinking as the land beneath becomes increasingly unstable and prone to collapse.

So its most crucial and beloved buildings are being loaded on to lorries and moved two miles down the road where a new settlement is being built. It’s yet another gruelling undertaking in the difficult history of the Arctic Circle railway line that runs from Kiruna to Narvik in Norway, a strategically important port during the Second World War that of course attracted the attention of Hitler.