Stockholm Subway: Making a €200m Go/No-Go Decision
Facing a €200m decision on signalling, Stockholm Subway reached clarity in just weeks instead of months. TransparentChoice turned a complex process into simple, transparent outcomes that everyone could trust.
The Challenge
The Stockholm Subway Red Line faced a €200m capital decision on whether to upgrade its signalling system.
Traditional approaches risked months of analysis and a long, technical report—too slow and often hard to digest. For a project of this scale, leaders needed a process that would be transparent and defensible.
With public funds on the line, the stakes were high: indecision could stall a vital upgrade, while an opaque process could undermine trust in how major infrastructure investments are made.
Our Approach
TransparentChoice helped decision-makers structure the problem by defining “Aspects” covering Finance, Technical, Integration, and Project Factors. This forced a broad, systematic evaluation rather than narrow assumptions.
The process was deliberately iterative. Teams refined criteria, tested scenarios, and adjusted weightings until the model reflected what really mattered. This approach encouraged challenges to assumptions and made priorities explicit.
Instead of dense reports, the group worked with clear, graphical outputs. Complex trade-offs became easy to understand, enabling departments to engage directly and quickly build alignment around a defensible recommendation.
The Results
The decision was reached in just three to four weeks—less than half the usual two to three months. A process that normally produced a 200-page report instead delivered clarity in a fraction of the time.
Leaders received clear, graphical outputs that made complex trade-offs easy to understand and communicate. Because the analysis was transparent, the results were robust, defensible, and hard to challenge.
Stakeholders across departments felt included, creating broad buy-in. What could have been a bureaucratic process became one of clarity and confidence, enabling Stockholm Subway to move forward with a €200m decision quickly and credibly.
"…they were able to make the decision … all in around three weeks. This compares to the typical way of working, which would take two to three months and end up with a 100–200 page document that paradoxically was less clear and less transparent." 0:01
"…since you can show it so clearly, the robustness of the result… you get a lot of buy-in because it’s very hard to argue against." 5:02
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