{"id":78338,"date":"2024-07-03T19:42:59","date_gmt":"2024-07-03T09:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=54022"},"modified":"2024-07-03T19:42:59","modified_gmt":"2024-07-03T09:42:59","slug":"despite-sufficient-capacity-sweden-and-denmark-eye-oresund-rail-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=78338","title":{"rendered":"Despite sufficient capacity, Sweden and Denmark eye \u00d6resund rail expansion"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new rail freight line across the \u00d6resund strait, connecting Denmark and Sweden, is going to be necessary in the future. The infrastructure that is currently in place will only be sufficient for the next 25 years. After that, capacity will need to grow. Already now, however, there is a desire for redundancy to improve security.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The Swedish government instructed its transport administration to investigate infrastructure capacity in the \u00d6resund region, which is the region directly across the sea strait from Denmark. The conclusion from the research, which the transport administration presented this week, is that redundancy is already needed. Even though the existing infrastructure provides enough capacity for current traffic, there is a desire to expand capacity for security reasons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a societal benefit to developing a new infrastructure across the strait. But we see no need for capacity reasons until the very long term\u201d, says Lars Br\u00fcmmer, strategist and project manager at the Swedish transport administration.<\/p>\n

Joint investigation with Denmark<\/h2>\n

It now proposes that Sweden and Denmark jointly investigate the development of \u00d6resund infrastructure further. The proposal was met with delight in Denmark, where authorities have already come to a similar conclusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe redundancy is not only important for the Greater Copenhagen region, but for all of Sweden and Denmark. From a security point of view, having only a single, fixed connection, which so many people and businesses depend on, is too vulnerable. We must secure commuting and freight transport across the \u00d6resund, so that the region does not come to a standstill when something happens to the existing bridge. It’s also about securing Swedes’ access to Copenhagen airport\u201d, says Copenhagen government official Lars Gaardh\u00f6j.<\/p>\n

Before another rail line can be built across the \u00d6resund however, Sweden will need to add two new tracks between the towns of Lund and H\u00e4ssleholm. Only then can capacity along the strait be increased, according to Swedish publication SVT.<\/p>\n

Multiple options on the table<\/h2>\n

There are various options on the table in order to increase capacity across the strait, namely:<\/p>\n