SWEDEN: National infrastructure manager Trafikverket has appointed Sweco to assist with capacity expansion on the busy East Coast trunk line between Stockholm and Uppsala.
The region to the north of the capital has been growing rapidly, and in 2017 the government commissioned Trafikverket to undertake a comprehensive expansion of the main line, providing additional capacity for both passenger and freight services as well as improving punctuality.
Officially part of Trafikverket’s East Coast Line between Stockholm and Sundsvall, the Stockholm – Uppsala route also feeds into the northern trunk line. As such, it is one of Sweden’s busiest rail corridors, carrying extensive commuter traffic into both cities and travellers to and from the country’s principal international airport at Arlanda, in addition to long-distance passenger and freight trains.
The line from Stockholm through Sollentuna and Upplands Väsby was quadrupled as far as Rosersberg in the early 1990s to support the introduction of Arlanda Express services. The loop through the airport and the old main line through Märsta effectively continue the four tracks to the junction near Odensala, close to the boundary between Stockholm and Uppsala counties. However, the final 23 km to Uppsala remains a two-track railway.
Trafikverket’s ‘four tracks Uppsala’ project envisages the quadrupling of the remaining 23 km through the three municipalities of Uppsala, Knivsta and Sigtuna. Planning consent was granted in 2018, and construction of the northern section is scheduled to start in 2026; the southern part will follow from 2028. Two new stations will be built at Bergsbrunna, 6 km south of Uppsala, and Alsike, 3 km north of Knivsta, to support the development of around 48 000 new homes.
Under the SKr400m contract announced on July 11, Sweco will provide consulting services until 2035, including project planning for railways, roads and structures, building construction, architecture, water and sewage as well as environmental and digital consultancy.
This includes the preparation of construction and tender documentation for the new station at Bergsbrunna and the additional tracks from there to Uppsala, along with grade separation of the intervening level crossings. Uppsala Central station is also to be expanded as part of the programme.
‘We are looking forward to advising in this comprehensive and complicated infrastructure project’, commented Ann-Louise Lökholm Klasson, Business Area President for Sweco in Sweden. ‘It will be possible to transport more freight in a climate-smart manner, while for passengers the expansion will result in more punctual trains, more departures and more convenient sustainable travel.’
