At the conference on high-speed rail project held in Stockholm in the middle of April, China National Machinery Import & Export Corporation (CMC), State construction company, has offered to support the entire Oslo-Sweden-Copenhagen NOK 89.3 billion bill.
Photo: S. Terfloth/Wikimedia Commons
This huge construction project forms part of the tri-Scandinavian high-speed rail initiative ‘8 Million City’. The EU co-funds the overall green project, estimated to cost up to SEK 160 billion (about NOK 142.7 billion/DKK 140.2 billion/EUR 18.8 billion)
According to the COINCO (Corridor of Innovation and Cooperation) North II 14-strong public sector partnership, 8 million of Scandinavia’s 19.3 inhabitants live in the corridor between Oslo and Copenhagen.
The climate-oriented green project aims to connect Oslo, Gothenburg, Stockholm and Copenhagen by 2025. With speeds of up to 360kph (almost 224mph) Oslo-Gothenburg and Gothenburg-Copenhagen travel times should be 75 minutes per stretch.
“The entire stretch could be ready in the space of five to ten years with using modern construction techniques”, Stefan Krii at Reinertsen Consulting told Nationen. The company has contributed to preparing a Swedish report on the high-speed rail project.
Denmark is currently studying high-speed trains, with Norway working on a favourable deal with Sweden, Norway ‘8 Million City’ project leader Floire Nathanael Daub confirms. Oslo municipality heads the construction project.
“Our assessments clearly show connecting the three regions together would mean a passenger volume equal to other European high-speed routes, and the railway line could get up to 9.4 million passengers annually,” declares Mr. Daub.
