Sweden’s transport infrastructure is bursting at the seams. Its roads and railways are clogged and an estimated 16 percent population growth by 2040 is forecast to bring about a 30 percent increase in passenger transport. In addition, the movement of goods is expected to grow by 50 percent, further straining its aged infrastructure. Bearing the initial brunt of this high volume will be the railways.
To meet this demand as well as climate objectives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2045, the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) committed to building the country’s first-ever high-speed railway (HSR). Connecting Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö, the 440-kilometer dual-rail network will support trains at speeds of 250-320 kilometers per hour, cutting by half today’s journey times between Stockholm and Malmö and increasing sustainable travel and freeing more space for freight transport on the existing railway.
Choosing where to place the new tracks and stations is the job of Atkins Sweden, a global design and engineering consultancy that is a recognized leader in sustainable business practices.
Since 2019, it has been conducting a feasibility study for the East Link Project (ELP), the first 160-km section of the HSR that runs from Järna, south of Stockholm to Linköping. Atkins’ role is to develop design alternatives for track routes and station locations in Linköping based on a host of factors such as safety, geometry, costs, and environmental impacts.
Historically, feasibility studies required teams to pore over maps and both manually draw potential alignments and calculate costs. For the ELP, Atkins streamlined that process through the expertise of
