Sweden's Bothnia Line reaches halfway point; construction of the 190km Bothnia Line in northern Sweden has reached the halfway point. This is the largest railway project in the Nordic region, and could one day form the first phase of a new line all the way to the Finnish border

International Railway Journal, Oct, 2005 by David Briginshaw

THE Bothnia Line will run from Nyland, north of Sundsvall, via Ornskoldsvik to Umea. It will provide a direct rail link for the first time between Sundsvall, Ornskoldsvik and Umea serving about 350,000 people. It will also double rail capacity between central and northern Sweden.

"The upper two-thirds of the Swedish rail network was built in the late-1890s," Mr Lennart Westberg, managing director and project manager with Botniabanan, the company set up to implement the project, told IRJ in Ornskoldsvik. "One of the strong ideas at that time was to protect the new railway from naval attack. The coastline was also hilly and had a lot of river mouths, which made it difficult to build a railway then. So the new line was built about 40km inland." Unfortunately for the railway, the main towns and industry in the region have developed on the coast.

"There has been a huge increase in road transport in northern Sweden during the last 10 to 15 years and the road network has been improved," Westberg continued. "The existing line can carry 5 million tonnes of freight a year, and the capacity is now used fully. The projection for 2010 is 6 million tonnes. The capacity of the old and new lines will be 10 million tonnes."

The new line is designed for operation by 120km/h freight trains and 250km/h tilting passenger trains making this Sweden's first line capable of this speed--the current maximum is 200km/h. The line will be single track with 22 two or three-track 1km-long passing loops. "There were discussions whether we should prepare the structures for double track, but the need for this is too far in the future," Westberg said.

The maximum axleload will be 25 tonnes, and the maximum gradient 1%. This will allow the operation of 1400 to 1600-tonne freight trains. The current maximum on the old line is 1000 tonnes. However, the 140 bridges on the new line will be designed for an axleload of 30 tonnes.

Minimum curve radius will be 3200m, except through Ornskoldsvik where the topography of the land and the town will only allow 600m-radius curves. There will be 15 tunnels totalling 25km in length. Tunnels will have escape routes every 500m and a safety system will prevent trains from stopping in tunnels. There will not be any level crossings on the line. Seven new stations will be provided.

"We have been constructing the line for six years and we have another six years to go," Westberg said. "We spend half the time planning and half the time building. It is much more complicated today to carry out a project of this kind than it was in the past. There are a lot of studies, a lot of permits to obtain, and we must take a lot of environmental care."

The environmental law has changed since construction of the central section of the line started in 1999. "But there is not a big difference because we followed the new law in practice for the first stage," Westberg explained.

The civil works on the first 30km section from Ornskoldsvik to Husum have been completed and track laying is well advanced. Because of the climate in northern Sweden, where temperatures can drop to -30[degrees]C in winter, track cannot be laid then. "We can lay track from April to October, or possibly into November if necessary and the weather permits," Westberg explained. "The railway-specific works will start next spring on the 75km southern section from Ornskoldsvik to Nyland."

Balfour Beatty Rail, Sweden, and VR-Track, Finland, won the contract to lay track between Nyland and Husum. The contract is based on the work being carried out during the summers of this year, 2006, and 2007. Balfour Beatty Rail also has the contract to supply 20 3MVA autotrans formers for the power supply. Electrification is being done by Banverket's Industrial Division.

The Bothnia Line will be the first in Sweden to be equipped with the European Traffic Management System (ERTMS) Level 2. Bombardier has the contract to install it. A test section will be ready by the end of next year on the Ornskoldsvik-Husum section. The Husum-Nyland section will be completed by autumn 2008.

"The southern part of the Husum-Umea section has been going very smoothly in terms of planning and civil works," Westberg said. "But the northern part of the line will pass through a nature reserve. Umea is a university town where, in my experience, you tend to have small specialised interest groups that can make their voices heard. They have objected to the line at every stage. So far we have a verdict in our favour from the Environmental Court, but this has been objected to by a couple of nongovernmental agencies and some private individuals. It will now go the Upper Court, and we hope to have a decision by the end of the year."

The main problem is migrating birds just south of Umea airport. The route favoured by Botniabanan enters Umea from the southeast enabling the trains to continue north on the existing line. "The opponents want a route to the west, but this would end up in a dead end," Westberg explained. "The western route would pass through a reindeer feeding area and would cause cultural problems. We could well end up with as many objections to this route as the other one. The western route would affect more people and add about SKr 1 billion ($US 128 million) to the project."