Construction of aqueduct risks new delay in the West Link
The six -kilometer -long commuter train tunnel West Link, « Gothenburg’s subway », is strong delayed and expensive.
Therefore, the Swedish Transport Administration keeps hard in it Latest forecast That the trains will start rolling past the three underground stations in just over five years.
-The goal is to be able to open the entire West Link on December 15, 2030, it is a Sunday, says the project’s environmental manager Mira Andersson-Ovuka.
But new obstacles Also puts that schedule under pressure.
The current project is about the technical solution required for the flowing water, fishermen and not least the so -called toads, often described as Gothenburg’s third largest tourist attraction, to be able to be combined with the tunnel construction at Rosenlundskanalen, next to what will become the West Link station Haga.
On an ordinary summer day, the toad boats pass Rosenlundskanalen some 40 times. The solution with an aqueduct, ie a kind of bridge filled with water, has been included in the planning from the beginning – despite the realization that the cost is high.
– The toads have been tours in the canals for over 80 years and are part of Gothenburg and the tourism industry and we can not only turn off the channel system, a throughput of the water is required. But the solution requires deep shafts, it is complicated, says environmentally responsible Mira Andersson-Ovuka.
The Swedish Transport Administration has planned, together with the construction company Peab, to start building the aqueduct in the coming winter to allow the sightseeing boats to slip through the six meter wide and 1.6 meter deep gutter from May 1 next year.
But intervention in Water, as it entails, requires a permit and one week before Christmas, the Swedish Transport Administration submitted an application for « minor change » of the business they were granted for already in 2018.
But that condition was based on a technology where cranes, vehicles and technical equipment during construction would be placed on a tire.
In the application to the County Administrative Board for a revised permit, the Swedish Transport Administration stated that the limited scope to work from that the method with over -covering « poses a threat to safety » and risks delaying construction.
The wish is instead To use part of the channel’s water surface ”as a buffer zone for storage of materials and creating safe walking and traffic routes” by rolling away the water and filling the bottom with stone and sand.
The Swedish Transport Administration also wants to extend the time for closing the canal from six to eight months to ensure that there is time to build and demolish the aqueduct on a closure.
The impact on the fish, oxygen levels and clouding of the water would be manageable and can be accommodated within the permit, the Swedish Transport Administration says.
The shift of working method From a pledged work tire to filling would also save 10-40 million for a thus already heavily expensive West Link, the Swedish Transport Administration writes to the County Administrative Board.
But in an advance notice, « Notification before a decision », the County Administrative Board does not buy that the changed plan is only a « minor change ». The intended filling occupies an area of 2,500 square meters.
“In addition, the county administrative board can do not rule out that the change risks causing an increased disruption to the environment and causing financial damage to business owners, ”they write.
The « preliminary assessment » is therefore that a completely new permit test is required. The Swedish Transport Administration must respond by April 1, but has already highlighted that « the minor change is not a new business but is covered by the applicable permit. »
The West Link’s time schedule has already cracked for four years and the construction of the tunnel at Rosenlund and the aqueduct must flow without hindrance to pass the 2030 goal.
If the County Administrative Board finally decides that the Swedish Transport Administration’s work at Rosenlund requires a new water permit, it will crack on the margins.
In an email like The Swedish Transport Administration sent to the County Administrative Board earlier this week is clear after the advance notice. They write: « If this had been communicated earlier in the process, the Swedish Transport Administration could have chosen to apply for a permit instead, but a denial would now have significant consequences for the project’s schedule and, in the worst case, have a significant risk that the project will not be completed by 2030-12. »
According to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s statistics, the processing time was from application to judgment in the first instance or decision in water cases during 2023 a full 428 days – with a variation from 60 to 600 days.
