Finnish company launches Hypersnab Railway Stockholm-Oslo
Of all the railway projects discussed in Sweden, it is the Stockholm -Oslo route that has recently received the most attention.
On the one hand, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) Lift it yourself As « a much better idea basically » than they now, by his government, scrapped the plans for new pedestrian paths Stockholm – Gothenburg – Malmö.
On the one hand, the security situation and the NATO membership have changed the playing field where the Nordic transport ministers recently met in Helsinki and discussed rail links in the east-west direction.
The Swedish minister Andreas Carlson (KD) usually also point to that the government has put in the distance on the so-called TEN-T map to open for EU support, and Swedish business have pointed out Oslo-Stockholm as suitable for private capital in so-called OPS cooperation with the state.
At the same time, the municipal and region-owned company Oslo- Sthlm 2.55 runs on for an upgrade And partly new construction of the tracks between the capitals to reach a travel time for three hours for SEK 76 billion.
So on Tuesday, a new player enters the arena Where the advocates count With two out of three of the 1.4 million annual flights Stockholm and Oslo today to move to the railway if travel time will be for three hours.
The Finnish concept However, aiming for something similar to that used for high -speed railways in China where the tracks are laid on pillars in the air and, it is claimed, would make the 46 -mile journey possible in 90 minutes.
In a letter like company Finest Bay Area DevelopmenFor the days send to the Swedish and Norwegian municipalities concerned, they write that they « are now at an early planning phase and would like to start a dialogue with the relevant municipalities. Your view of the project is of great importance », they also ask for meetings for the project in September.
Behind Finest Bay Area Development, two entrepreneurs are linked to the Finnish venture capital market. Those one is Peter Vesterbacka, perhaps best known as one of The creators of the mobile phone game Angry Birds Who broke through with thunder and bangs in the early 2010s.
In recent years have The headings about him were mostly about the plan to build an eight-mile long rail and car tunnel under the Finnish Gulf between Helsinki and Tallinn. It has However, stuck where they themselves refer to slow processes in Estonian politics and courts.
The other entrepreneur is Vesterbacka’s couple horse, civil engineer Kustaa Valtonen. He tells DN that they got to know each other when working in American IT giant Hewlett-Packard.
On DN’s question how Realistic It is for him and Vesterbacka to keep together a gigantic project that Stockholm -Oslo answers Kustaa Valtonen:
– After working with the Helsinki -Tallinn for eight years, we are well aware of all the requirements that exist, as a government decision. But fundamentals are that more fast transport routes from Norway to Sweden and on to Finland are needed. For example, we notice a great appetite of the pension funds we talked to.
What is the decisive factor for success?
– That the railway must be built in a few years, that is the key to getting the economy together. We believe in ten million trips per year where the investment pays off within 20 years.
You write that it is possible to build everything until 2033. It is extremely short time with Swedish measurements measured.
– That is why it needs to be run as a private project.
Peter Vesterbacka admits that they have not yet had contact with the governments.
– We should of course seek contact with them, but primarily is to talk to the municipalities concerned. I would say that Sweden is ready for this.
Although the letter to The municipalities are about Stockholm – Oslo, Finest Bay Development at the same time says that they see in front of them an extension from Stockholm to Turku via Åland, which would require a around 17 km long connection to a large extent below the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
They are not alone in the breathtaking idea. In February, the entrepreneurial organization Finland’s Business Ek published a report with the call that the Finnish government should appoint an investigation.
Similarly reason the landscape Southwest Finland based in Turku. Landscape Director Jyri Arponen tells DN that « a fixed connection must be realized » and mentions particularly security policy reasons.
– Both the prime minister and several other ministers see the importance of this, says Arponen.
