Europabanan (the
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
line) is a proposed
high-speed rail
High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, line ...
way between
Jönköping
Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland.
The city is the seat of Jönköping Munici ...
and
Scania
Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skå ...
in
Sweden. The speed is planned to be 320 km/h. In Jönköping it will connect to
Götalandsbanan
Götalandsbanan (the Gothia line) is a planned high-speed railway planned to be built between Södertälje and Gothenburg in Sweden, past Linköping and Jönköping. The planned length is about . The speed is planned to be .
It will, if buil ...
, the planned high-speed railway Stockholm-Göteborg.
Previous proposals
There is also a proposal, but no real plan, to build a railway between
Helsingborg
Helsingborg (, , , ) is a city
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edit ...
and
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, including the
HH Tunnel
The HH Tunnel is a proposed series of tunnels under Øresund between Helsingborg in Sweden and Helsingør in Denmark. The connection is planned for passenger trains, and other proposals for the tunnels include freight rail and road tunnels. ...
under the
Öresund. The rail track on the current
Öresund bridge is congested.
Europabanan will, if built, be used for passenger trains going between Copenhagen-Stockholm, Malmö-Stockholm, Helsingborg-Stockholm, Helsingborg-Jönköping and more connections. The travel time Malmö-Stockholm is expected to be around 3 hours compared to 4.5 hours today. The travel time Helsingborg-Jönköping would be cut by 2 hours compared to today. The disadvantage with the project is the big cost.
Feasibility study
There is a feasibility study ordered by the government supporting the idea about the Europabanan. The study did not include the Öresund tunnel. There is no further planning done. This is in contrast to Götalandsbanan which has a detailed plan along half its stretch and (in 2010) one being made for the rest of that railway. There is no decision to build any part of these railways.
The expected cost is at least 40 billion SEK for Europabanan, not counting the connection to Denmark, an amount that caused political hesitation.
Negotiations
In February 2016 negotiations were started with municipalities for financing a high-speed rail between
Stockholm and
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popula ...
, with stations in
Jönköping
Jönköping (, ) is a city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland.
The city is the seat of Jönköping Munici ...
,
Värnamo
Värnamo (), historically known as Wernamo, is a town in Jönköping County in the south of Sweden. It is situated on the river Lagan just north of the lake Vidöstern. It is the seat of Värnamo Municipality and has 19,778 inhabitants as of ...
,
Hässleholm
Hässleholm (older da, Hasselholm) is a locality and the seat of Hässleholm Municipality, Scania County, Sweden with 18,500 inhabitants in 2010.
Overview
Hässleholm was gradually developed from 1860 in connection with the construction of the ...
and
Lund.
References
External links
Europakorridoren, a lobbyist organisation owned by concerned citiesSverigeförhandlingen, a negotiation organisation set up by the Swedish government
{{DEFAULTSORT:Europabanan
Rail transport in Skåne County
High-speed railway lines in Sweden
Proposed public transport in Sweden
Railway lines in the Øresund Region