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Preventing infrastructure bottleneck in Western Sweden 

Photo: Sketches: The Swedish Transport Administration

Visualisations of the new train station at Haga (above) and the commuter train station at the Central Station (below) – both important new additions to the railway system in Gothenburg in the so called West Link project.

Another contract for the West Link project, the new rail tunnel under Gothenburg city centre, has been awarded to COWI in a consortium with Tyréns. The contract covers the assessment and construction of a new local station at the Central Station, enabling regional and local commuter trains to pass through and on to other new, local stations in the city.

Christer Niland at COWI is responsible for the consortium's tender and he highlights the importance of the new, refurbished Central Station and the West Link project to the overall future of rail functionality in Sweden:

"The Central Station in Gothenburg is the rail hub of Western Sweden and it is currently operating at full capacity. By moving regional and local commuter trains to four transit tracks and adding new stations, the capacity for long-distance trains can be improved dramatically within the existing station area. This would remove a serious bottleneck that would otherwise delay the progress of several other rail projects in Western Sweden."

 

Like burying a supertanker

The development of the Central Station is a vast project.

"Not unlike burying a supertanker in the middle of the city," says Christer Niland.

"There are of course certain extraordinary technical challenges to be addressed in a project of this magnitude if all the city services and functions are to be maintained during construction."

The new addition to the station consists of a 600-metre structure, to be built north of the present Central Station.

Comprehensive scope

The project will commence in May 2012 with a comprehensive planning phase that will last throughout the summer. This will be followed by a concept phase, a precondition for the major consultations that need to be held with the large number of stakeholders. The actual planning will take place and be completed during the final stages of the assignment in 2014.

The West Link COWI/Tyréns consortium will handle the basic design of the new station, which will be an underground facility linked to the Central Station. The contract covers the construction design as well as certain legal aspects to allow the project owner – the Swedish Transport Administration – access to the land for planning purposes.

LAST UPDATED: 22.05.2013