SWEDEN: Funding has been agreed for construction of a 60 km high speed line between Göteborg and Borås, the second largest town in the Västra Götaland region.
The existing line from Göteborg to Borås and Alvesta is single track and does not serve Landvetter Airport, which is Sweden’s second largest and is owned by Swedavia. A new line serving the airport had previously been envisaged as one phase of a Y-shaped high speed route linking Göteborg and Malmö with Stockholm, on which planning was halted by the government in December 2023.
The government has now agreed to provide the majority of the funding for a new Göteborg – Borås line, which would serve the airport as well as improving regional connectivity. To be designed for a maximum speed of 250 km/h, the double-track alignment will start at the south end of the Västlänken cross-city tunnel now under construction in Göteborg. It would have intermediate stations at Mölndal and Landvetter Airport, which is to be developed as a hub for regional public transport.
The government will contribute SKr43∙5bn towards the SKr48∙5bn total cost, with the remainder borne by Västra Götaland (SKr2∙5bn) and towns and cities served by the route. Göteborg will contribute SKr1bn, Borås SKr345m, Härryda SKr120m and Mölndal SKr235m. Completion is envisaged in the second half of the 2030s.
The agreement was welcomed by Infrastructure Minister Andreas Carlson as ‘a great success’. Asserting that ‘capacity improvements on the Göteborg – Borås route represent a large and important project’, he said that it was ‘of great importance to many people and companies’. The scheme must now go forward for approval by local councils before national road and rail infrastructure manager Trafikverket can proceed with planning and implementation.
Trafikverket had been tasked by the government to proceed with planning for a revised version of the project, but earlier this year it proved impossible for the various parties involved to reach agreement. On May 24 the government appointed Governor of Västra Götaland Sten Tolgfors as a mediator, and a deal was eventually reached on the last day of August following negotiations over details of the alignment.
Jonas Attenius, Chairman of the Municipal Board in Göteborg, welcomed the decision, commenting that ‘after so many years of uncertainty and disagreement, we can put the past behind us and finally build a new railway’.
