City Tunnel, Malmö
Encyclopedia
The City Tunnel is a 17-kilometre rail link in Malmö
, Sweden
, running between Malmö Central Station
(Malmö C) and the Öresund Line (Öresund Bridge). The tunnel portion of the project extends for a length of six kilometres under the city centre. The purpose of the project was mainly to increase capacity on the Scania
n network by changing Malmö Central from a terminus to a through station. The work is projected to cost 9.45 billion SEK. The line, under construction since March 2005, was inaugurated by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
on December 4, 2010, and revenue service commenced on December 12, 2010.
from a terminal into a through station by building new underground platforms (enabling more rail traffic in the Skåne region and across the bridge to Denmark), to create more stations in Malmö, relieve the Continental Line from passenger traffic, expand the catchment area of cross Öresund traffic
and improve connections between destinations south of Malmö and the Öresund trains. Furthermore, the opening of the new underground station Triangeln creates what will be one of the country's largest railway stations, with significantly reduced travel times from the region's cities to southern parts of central Malmö, including the large Malmö University hospital. Malmö thus now has two stations in the city center, of which Triangeln station has the most jobs and housing in its vicinity. A new station was also built in Hyllie, south of Malmö.
and Trelleborg
were being built. The underground station section at Malmö central station was built in a 0.8 km long open trench which was then filled again. To minimize traffic disruption, the extensive and time-consuming work was done in stages. In order to build Triangeln station, two 25 m deep vertical shafts were dug at the northern and southern part of the site, and the underground station was then milled out of the rock by a roadheader
— a machine equipped with a rotating cutter head on a telescopic arm. The rock was then lined with concrete elements to finish the structure. Hyllie Station was built in an approximately 7 m deep shaft; the vault that covers the station is a distinct landmark in the Hyllie development area. The tunnel was mostly drilled by two tunnel boring machines
(TBMs). Underground drilling commenced in November 2006 and February 2007, respectively. On 25 March 2008, one of the TBMs achieved breakthrough at Malmö C, followed by the second TBM on April 21. Work was completed in December 2010, six months ahead of schedule.
(SEK) in 2001 prices, almost a billion kronor less than the budgeted 9.450 billion which was established just before the start of construction in 2005, when the procurement of the large contracts and the comprehensive environmental assessment was completed. Following the latest cost estimate, the Swedish Transport Administration's share is about 6 billion Swedish kronor, Scania County 800 million and the City of Malmö
more than a billion kronor. The European Union
's contribution is 700 million SEK.
According to an economic analysis conducted at the Center for Transport Economics (CTEK), the tunnel will produce a result ranging from slightly negative to slightly positive; most likely, it will bear its own costs. According to the Swedish Transport Administration's own forecasts, the project will not be profitable. It should be noted that these calculations were carried out in 2001, and since the early 2000s, there has been a sharp increase in local and regional train journeys, making calculations from 2001 highly unreliable. In April 2008, the Swedish Transport Administration revised their forecasts, stating that "...the economic viability of many railway projects in the real world will exceed the previously estimated [sic]." The report was commissioned as part of the basis for action planning for infrastructure investment in the transport sector from 2010 to 2021. According to a political principle established in Sweden during recent years, construction projects in areas where construction is overly expensive does not need to be fully economically viable. In such cases, a lower cost estimate can be used in the calculation, since it is not politically desirable for certain metropolitan areas to be neglected merely because of the high cost associated with construction in these areas. Without such a principle, it would not have been possible to build the City Tunnel, Södra länken
, Götatunneln
and other upcoming city projects.
, since trains no longer have to reverse at Malmö Central station. The full potential of the tunnel, however, will not be realized until the line between Lund
and Malmö has been expanded to four tracks, a project currently in advanced planning.
, while another branch will connect to the Ystad and Trelleborg (Kontinentalbanan
) lines when it opens in August 2011.
. In 2012 (tentatively), when all trains using the City tunnel are retrofitted, the ATC stopgap solution will be removed and ERTMS deployed instead. Since ERTMS is already installed and tested, the changeover can essentially be done overnight.
Malmö
Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, running between Malmö Central Station
Malmö Central Station
Malmö Central Station is a terminus railway station on the Southern Main Line in Malmö, Sweden opened in 1876. It serves approximately 55 000 passengers every day, making it the second busiest in Sweden behind Stockholm Central Station-History:...
(Malmö C) and the Öresund Line (Öresund Bridge). The tunnel portion of the project extends for a length of six kilometres under the city centre. The purpose of the project was mainly to increase capacity on the Scania
Scania
Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...
n network by changing Malmö Central from a terminus to a through station. The work is projected to cost 9.45 billion SEK. The line, under construction since March 2005, was inaugurated by King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Carl XVI Gustaf is the reigning King of Sweden since 15 September 1973, succeeding his grandfather King Gustaf VI Adolf because his father had predeceased him...
on December 4, 2010, and revenue service commenced on December 12, 2010.
Background
Planning for a railway connection through Malmö connecting to the proposed Öresund bridge began in 1991. The task of investigating technology and cost of the various options was eventually assigned to Svedab AB (Svensk-Danska Broförbindelsen). In 1995, the City Tunnel Consortium was formed, starting the design of the so-called tunnel solution. The main purpose of the tunnel was to transform Malmö Central StationMalmö Central Station
Malmö Central Station is a terminus railway station on the Southern Main Line in Malmö, Sweden opened in 1876. It serves approximately 55 000 passengers every day, making it the second busiest in Sweden behind Stockholm Central Station-History:...
from a terminal into a through station by building new underground platforms (enabling more rail traffic in the Skåne region and across the bridge to Denmark), to create more stations in Malmö, relieve the Continental Line from passenger traffic, expand the catchment area of cross Öresund traffic
Oresundtrain
Oresundtrain or Øresundståg is a regional rail network serving the Oresund Region. The train consists of multiple units manufactured by Bombardier Transportation in Kalmar, previously known as Kalmar Verkstad and lately in Hennigsdorf by LEW Hennigsdorf...
and improve connections between destinations south of Malmö and the Öresund trains. Furthermore, the opening of the new underground station Triangeln creates what will be one of the country's largest railway stations, with significantly reduced travel times from the region's cities to southern parts of central Malmö, including the large Malmö University hospital. Malmö thus now has two stations in the city center, of which Triangeln station has the most jobs and housing in its vicinity. A new station was also built in Hyllie, south of Malmö.
Construction
Construction commenced on March 8, 2005. Three major construction sites were established at Malmö Central Station, Triangeln and Holma/Hyllie. By the end of 2006, another construction site was opened in Lockarp where connecting tracks to YstadYstad
Ystad is a "locality", or town, and the seat of Ystad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden, with 17,286 inhabitants .Settlement dates back to the 11th century and the town has become a busy ferryport, local administrative centre and tourist attraction...
and Trelleborg
Trelleborg
Trelleborg is a locality and the seat of Trelleborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 25,643 inhabitants in 2005. It is the southernmost town in Sweden.-History:...
were being built. The underground station section at Malmö central station was built in a 0.8 km long open trench which was then filled again. To minimize traffic disruption, the extensive and time-consuming work was done in stages. In order to build Triangeln station, two 25 m deep vertical shafts were dug at the northern and southern part of the site, and the underground station was then milled out of the rock by a roadheader
Roadheader
A roadheader, also called a boom-type roadheader, road header machine, road header or just header machine, is a piece of excavating equipment consisting of a boom-mounted cutting head, a loading device usually involving a conveyor, and a crawler travelling track to move the entire machine forward...
— a machine equipped with a rotating cutter head on a telescopic arm. The rock was then lined with concrete elements to finish the structure. Hyllie Station was built in an approximately 7 m deep shaft; the vault that covers the station is a distinct landmark in the Hyllie development area. The tunnel was mostly drilled by two tunnel boring machines
Tunnel boring machine
A tunnel boring machine also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They can bore through anything from hard rock to sand. Tunnel diameters can range from a metre to almost 16 metres to date...
(TBMs). Underground drilling commenced in November 2006 and February 2007, respectively. On 25 March 2008, one of the TBMs achieved breakthrough at Malmö C, followed by the second TBM on April 21. Work was completed in December 2010, six months ahead of schedule.
Finances
According to a final cost estimate which was presented November 30, 2009, the cost of the City Tunnel will be 8.565 billion Swedish kronorSwedish krona
The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...
(SEK) in 2001 prices, almost a billion kronor less than the budgeted 9.450 billion which was established just before the start of construction in 2005, when the procurement of the large contracts and the comprehensive environmental assessment was completed. Following the latest cost estimate, the Swedish Transport Administration's share is about 6 billion Swedish kronor, Scania County 800 million and the City of Malmö
Malmö Municipality
Malmö Municipality is a municipality in Skåne County in Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Malmö.When the first Swedish local government acts were implemented in 1863 the old City of Malmö was made one of the country's 88 city municipalities and the first city council was elected...
more than a billion kronor. The European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
's contribution is 700 million SEK.
According to an economic analysis conducted at the Center for Transport Economics (CTEK), the tunnel will produce a result ranging from slightly negative to slightly positive; most likely, it will bear its own costs. According to the Swedish Transport Administration's own forecasts, the project will not be profitable. It should be noted that these calculations were carried out in 2001, and since the early 2000s, there has been a sharp increase in local and regional train journeys, making calculations from 2001 highly unreliable. In April 2008, the Swedish Transport Administration revised their forecasts, stating that "...the economic viability of many railway projects in the real world will exceed the previously estimated [sic]." The report was commissioned as part of the basis for action planning for infrastructure investment in the transport sector from 2010 to 2021. According to a political principle established in Sweden during recent years, construction projects in areas where construction is overly expensive does not need to be fully economically viable. In such cases, a lower cost estimate can be used in the calculation, since it is not politically desirable for certain metropolitan areas to be neglected merely because of the high cost associated with construction in these areas. Without such a principle, it would not have been possible to build the City Tunnel, Södra länken
Södra länken
Södra länken , National road 75 , is a motorway in Sweden connecting Essingeleden , Stockholm with Värmdöleden , Nacka. Södra länken is 6 km in length, of which 4.7 km is in tunnels. This makes it the second longest urban motorway tunnel in Europe after Madrid M30 orbital motorway...
, Götatunneln
Götatunneln
The Götatunneln is a road tunnel under the inner city of Gothenburg in Sweden. It is long.Construction began 2000 and it was opened for traffic June 2006. The tunnel is separated in two tubes, each carrying three lanes of traffic...
and other upcoming city projects.
Operation
The running time between Malmö and Copenhagen Central Stations will be reduced from 35 minutes to 33 minutes, since the savings gained by the significantly shorter route is partly offset by the extra stop at Triangeln station. Maximum time savings will be between 15–25 minutes for trips to and from Triangeln, a central location in Malmo. From locations north of Malmö, travel times will be reduced by approximately 10 minutes for journeys to CopenhagenCopenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, since trains no longer have to reverse at Malmö Central station. The full potential of the tunnel, however, will not be realized until the line between Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...
and Malmö has been expanded to four tracks, a project currently in advanced planning.
Route
The railway starts at a new underground station section built beneath Malmö Central station, called Malmö C Nedre (Lower). From there, the railway runs in a tunnel to the new underground station Triangeln, built 25 meters underground in central Malmö. It then turns south until it reaches Holma, and continues in an open shaft to the new station at Hyllie, a new development area south of the city centre. Here two lines branch out: one route runs west connecting to the Oresund Railway LineOresund Railway
Oresund Line is a railway between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmö in Sweden via the Oresund Bridge. On the Swedish side the railway infrastructure is managed by Swedish Transport Administration, on the Danish side the railway infrastructure is managed by Banedanmark.The railway line continues from...
, while another branch will connect to the Ystad and Trelleborg (Kontinentalbanan
Kontinentalbanan
The Continental Line is a long railway between Malmö and Trelleborg in Sweden. At Trelleborg the railway terminates at a railway ferry quay allowing rail cars to be ferried to Sassnitz in Germany. A part of the railway is also part of the line between Malmö and Copenhagen via the Oresund Bridge...
) lines when it opens in August 2011.
- Northern end: 55.610317°N 13.006654°E
- Central lower station: 55.609736°N 13.000238°E
- Triangeln station: 55.594643°N 13.000367°E
- Southern end: 55.567888°N 12.985067°E
- Hyllie station: 55.560923°N 12.977943°E
Stations
- Malmö Central StationMalmö Central StationMalmö Central Station is a terminus railway station on the Southern Main Line in Malmö, Sweden opened in 1876. It serves approximately 55 000 passengers every day, making it the second busiest in Sweden behind Stockholm Central Station-History:...
- TriangelnTriangeln railway stationTriangeln Station, , is a new railway station in central Malmö, Sweden, located by Sankt Johannes church close to the neighbourhood of Möllevången and Pildammsparken. The station opened in 2010 as a part of the newly built Citytunneln along with Hyllie railway station and a new underground part of...
- HyllieHyllie railway stationHyllie Station is a new railway station south of central Malmö, Sweden. The stationed opened in 2010 as a part of the newly built City Tunnel along with Triangeln railway station and a new underground part of Malmö Central Station....
Signalling
Trains in the City Tunnel will be controlled by the new signalling system ERTMS. The system is a new European standard and will simplify operations across national borders. Under an EU directive, all newly constructed railway lines in Europe must use this system while other existing railways will gradually introduce the new system. Due to delays in equipment installation for integration between ERTMS and the older Swedish and (especially) Danish systems, there will be a temporary arrangement using ATCAutomatic Train Control
Automatic Train Control is a train protection system for railways, ensuring the safe and smooth operation of trains on ATC-enabled lines. Its main advantages include making possible the use of cab signalling instead of track-side signals and the use of smooth deceleration patterns in lieu of the...
. In 2012 (tentatively), when all trains using the City tunnel are retrofitted, the ATC stopgap solution will be removed and ERTMS deployed instead. Since ERTMS is already installed and tested, the changeover can essentially be done overnight.