Botniabanan and E4 at Ovansjö.jpg
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Bothnia Line ( sv, Botniabanan) is a
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, lines ...
way line in northern
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
. The long route, from
Höga Kusten Airport Höga Kusten Airport, translated ''High Coast Airport'', by authorities such as IATA and Transportstyrelsen known as Kramfors-Sollefteå Airport, is an airport located between the towns of Kramfors and Sollefteå, Sweden . The airport is still na ...
, where it connects to the
Ã…dalen Line The Ã…dalen Line ( sv, Ã…dalsbanan) is a railway line between Sundsvall and LÃ¥ngsele in Sweden. At Sundsvall, the line intersects with the Central Line and the East Coast Line. At LÃ¥ngsele, the line intersects with the Main Line Through Up ...
, via Örnsköldsvik to Umeå, was opened in 2010 and trains are allowed to travel at speeds up to (although no train with a higher top speed than uses the railway as of 2013).


Introduction

Completed in August 2010, the Bothnia Line adds of high-speed railway to the Swedish railway network. At up to this is also the highest-speed track in the country. The route branches off from the
Ã…dalen Line The Ã…dalen Line ( sv, Ã…dalsbanan) is a railway line between Sundsvall and LÃ¥ngsele in Sweden. At Sundsvall, the line intersects with the Central Line and the East Coast Line. At LÃ¥ngsele, the line intersects with the Main Line Through Up ...
at Höga Kusten Airport just north of Kramfors and goes via Örnsköldsvik to UmeÃ¥ where it connects to the UmeÃ¥-Vännäs line and the Main Line Through Upper Norrland. The railway line has 140 bridges and 25 km of tunnels. Construction was carried out by Botniabanan AB, a company owned 91% by the Swedish government and 9% by the municipalities of Kramfors, Örnsköldsvik,
Nordmaling Nordmaling is a locality and the seat of Nordmaling Municipality in Västerbotten County Västerbotten County ( sv, Västerbottens län) is a county or ''län'' in the north of Sweden. It shares the borders with the counties of Västernorrland, ...
and Umeå. Work began on the line in 1999, and reached the halfway point at the end of 2005. After its completion in 2010, the line was leased to the
Swedish Rail Administration , genre = , fate = , predecessor = Swedish State Railways , successor = Swedish Transport Administration , foundation = 1988 , founder = , defunct = 31 March 2010 , location_city ...
. When Botniabanan AB has recovered its investment (estimated to be 2050), the ownership of the line will pass to the Rail Administration. The construction budget was SEK 15 billion. It is intended that the Bothnia Line will compete with road transport using the European route E4, which is a main road carrying heavy freight traffic; however because the line uses the
European Rail Traffic Management System The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the o ...
signal system, which most of Sweden does not, relatively few freight train operators have invested in the ERTMS technology for their locomotives. Passenger traffic between Umeå and Örnsköldsvik began in August 2010. The delayed upgrade of the ERTMS signal system on the Ådalen Line meant that traffic south of Örnsköldsvik did not begin until 2012.


Purpose

A railway line along the coast of northern Sweden has been considered beneficial for many years, with a lack of capacity and long travel times on the existing main line (further inland) because of lower speed limits, curves, and gradients. The Bothnia line also improves public mobility in the area, reducing the travel time between Umeå and Örnsköldsvik to 50 minutes via high-speed train. It is also served by regional trains, at a frequency of up to two trains (mostly one train) in each direction an hour.


Railway standard

The line is single track (with grading and other provisions for a second track), and has 22
passing loops Passing may refer to: Social identity * Passing (sociology), presenting oneself as a member of another sociological group ** Passing (gender), presenting oneself as being cisgender ** Passing (racial identity), presenting oneself as a member of ...
. The maximum axle weight will be 25 tonnes at 120 km/h (freight trains) and 250 km/h permitted for passenger trains (as with all new lines, the earthworks must have time to adjust to the intended traffic). Curves have a radius of 3,200 m or more, except for the passage of Örnsköldsvik (down to 600 m) and a few between 2,000 and 2,500 m. The maximum grade is 1%.


Delayed stretch through the natural reservation area

The middle part of the railway was ready for traffic in 2008, and all of the railway except the northern part from October 2009. The northern part, near Umeå, did not see operation until August 2010, due to a court battle over the placement of a bridge that crosses over environmentally sensitive areas at the
Ume River The Ume River (Swedish: ''Ume älv'' or ''Umeälven'') is one of the main rivers in northern Sweden. It is around long, and flows in a south-eastern direction from its source, the lake ''Överuman'' by the Norway, Norwegian border within the Scand ...
. These areas are protected as a nature reserve and the process to approve its location was opposed by environmentalists and neighbours concerned about their properties. Other alternatives to the present location were deemed unacceptably close to the
Umeå Airport Umeå Airport is an airport located on the southern outskirts of the city of Umeå, Sweden. As of 2019, it is the seventh-largest airport in Sweden. It had 960,351 passengers in 2019. By road, the airport is located about from Umeå city centre. ...
for safety reasons, and a tunnel under the airport and river would have been much too expensive. A more southerly route would have lengthened the line and been more expensive. The crux of this debate was that the nature reserve was established some years after the railway line placement had been fixed. There was no passenger traffic before all of the railway was finished, because the largest city, Umeå, was not connected to this line before then, though some freight traffic used the finished sections.


Times, distances and average speed

The railway line itself allows 250 km/h. The trains will run at 180–200 km/h for the first few years, with a speed increase in the future, as of 2021 scheduled for around 2025 when SJ gets new trains. The
Transitio {{notability, Companies, date=July 2017 Transitio AB is a Swedish limited liability company that is owned by its customers (Transitio is owned by 20 regions and public transportation authorities.), a mix of different regions and public tran ...
leasing company owned by the counties signed a contract in October 2008 to buy Alstom Coradia trains. These trains were delivered in 2011, and they have a top speed of 180 km/h. For long-distance trains from Stockholm, SJ runs X55 trains, with a top speed of 200 km/h. So far the suppliers cannot guarantee winter characteristics above 200 km/h, since there is no experience operating at such speeds in the northern Swedish climate. Still 2021, no trains run here above 200 km/h since operator hasn't bought faster trains considering it's the only railway in Sweden allowing it above 200 km/h, and the fact that air travel is much faster Stockholm-UmeÃ¥ anyway. The Bothnia Line was also the first line in Sweden equipped with the signalling system
ERTMS The European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) is the system of standards for management and interoperation of signalling for railways by the European Union (EU). It is conducted by the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and is the o ...
(Level 2) and has been tested at 289 km/h on the southern part of the Bothnia Line. Currently, Swedish signalling and its ATP safety system (ATC - Automatic Train Control) is only validated up to 210 km/h. Parts of the railway started to be used by freight trains on 16 October 2008, but with manual train protection control. No Alstom train was delivered for the traffic opening in August 2010, since the delivery time is at least two years. One train of the type Regina was rented from southern Sweden for the UmeÃ¥-Örnsköldsvik traffic, with a top speed of 200 km/h. Traffic to and from Sundsvall started autumn 2012. SJ ran the Stockholm-Narvik and Göteborg-LuleÃ¥ night trains over LÃ¥ngsele-Mellansel-Örnsköldsvik-UmeÃ¥ from August 2010, and from 2012 the shorter way Sundsvall-Kramfors-UmeÃ¥.


Stations

The trains stop at: On the Ã…dalen Line: *
Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. History Th ...
Central Station 319.391 km *
TimrÃ¥ TimrÃ¥ () is a locality and the seat of TimrÃ¥ Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden with 10,443 inhabitants in 2010. It is located about 13 km north of Sundsvall (a town with a metropolitan area of some 100,000 inhabitants), and c ...
295.681 km * Härnösand 248.051 km * Kramfors 208.366 km *Västeraspby (transfer, upon request, to the
Höga Kusten Airport Höga Kusten Airport, translated ''High Coast Airport'', by authorities such as IATA and Transportstyrelsen known as Kramfors-Sollefteå Airport, is an airport located between the towns of Kramfors and Sollefteå, Sweden . The airport is still na ...
; about 2 km road distance) On the Bothnia Line: * Örnsköldsvik Central Station 115.402 km * Örnsköldsvik North 112.986 km *
Husum Husum (, frr, Hüsem) is the capital of the ''Kreis'' (district) Nordfriesland in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. The town was the birthplace of the novelist Theodor Storm, who coined the epithet "the grey town by the sea". It is also the home of ...
90.313 km *
Nordmaling Nordmaling is a locality and the seat of Nordmaling Municipality in Västerbotten County Västerbotten County ( sv, Västerbottens län) is a county or ''län'' in the north of Sweden. It shares the borders with the counties of Västernorrland, ...
58.109 km *
Hörnefors Hörnefors () is a locality situated in Umeå Municipality, Västerbotten County, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdo ...
34.856 km *
Umeå East Station Umeå East Station (Swedish: ''Umeå Östra'') is a railway station in Umeå, Sweden. The station was opened on 7 August 2010, with King Carl XVI Gustaf officially opening the station on 28 August. It was built in connection with the construction ...
2.016 km *
Umeå Central Station Umeå Central Station (Swedish: ''Umeå centralstation'' or ''Umeå C'') is a railway station in Umeå, Sweden. The station was the sole station serving Umeå until the opening of Umeå East Station in 2010. Renovation of Central station was co ...
0 km Some trains stop at the larger stations only. The most used station is forecast to be UmeÃ¥ East, since it is within walking distance of UmeÃ¥ University and the University Hospital. UmeÃ¥ Central Station was closed in 2010-2011 for rebuilding.


Ã…dalen Line

The Bothnia Line ends near the Höga Kusten Airport at the existing
Ã…dalen Line The Ã…dalen Line ( sv, Ã…dalsbanan) is a railway line between Sundsvall and LÃ¥ngsele in Sweden. At Sundsvall, the line intersects with the Central Line and the East Coast Line. At LÃ¥ngsele, the line intersects with the Main Line Through Up ...
, which runs Långsele– Kramfors– Härnösand–
Sundsvall Sundsvall () is a city and the seat of Sundsvall Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden. It has a population of 58,807 as of 2020; more than 95,000 live in the municipal area. It is Sweden's 21st largest city by population. History Th ...
. The distance from the connection to Sundsvall is . This railway was built from 1890–1925, and is rather curvy and in poor condition. From 2003 to 2012, the Ådalen Line was improved along the existing route to allow higher speeds than before, with a maximum speed of . The improvements included new rails, new catenary, a new signalling system (ERTMS) and better and fewer road crossings. A few parts of it north of Härnösand (totalling ) were replaced with a new route, built to the same standard as the Bothnia Line, with a maximum speed of . The reason for keeping most of the existing route is that the advantage of building a new railway is smaller when there already is a railway, but the costs for a new railway would be the same as if there was no railway, which is the case along the Bothnia Line. The total improvement cost for the Ådalen Line was 6 billion SEK.


Old main line

The Main Line Through Upper Norrland from
Bräcke Bräcke is a locality and the seat of Bräcke Municipality in Jämtland County, Sweden with 1,651 inhabitants in 2010. The community is located next to Lake Revsundssjön, 70 km south-east of Östersund. The railway has been an importan ...
to Boden was built between 1880–1895. It was deliberately built 30–100 km inland from the coast to protect it from military attacks. The Bothnia Line replaced all passenger traffic on the Main Line Through Upper Norrland between Bräcke and
Vännäs Vännäs () is a locality in Västerbotten County in northern Sweden. Vännäs is the seat of Vännäs Municipality and had 4,466 inhabitants in 2018. The name of the village is known since 1535 (''Wendenäs'', ‘The place where a person walkin ...
, ending service to the stations at LÃ¥ngsele and
Mellansel Mellansel () is a locality situated in Örnsköldsvik Municipality, Västernorrland County, Sweden with 827 inhabitants in 2010. History Mellansel was first discovered by humans in 300 BC however Mellansel did not become a permanent settlement u ...
. The line remains in use by freight traffic and occasional diversions of passenger trains during engineering works.


North Bothnia Line

The North Bothnia Line (''Norrbotniabanan'') is a planned extension of the Bothnia Line north of Umeå to
Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...
. The distance is about 270 km, longer than the Bothnia Line. The preliminary decision to build the line as far as SkellefteÃ¥ has been made. Construction began in 2020 on the first section of the line from
Västerslätt Västerslätt is a residential area in Umeå, Sweden. External linksVästerslätt
at Umeå Municipality Umeå {{västerbotten-geo-stub ...
in Umeå to Sävar. Both the North Bothnia Line and the Bothnia Line will have the advantage of immediately reducing the cost of the frequent and heavy freight traffic when finished. They will provide large travel time reductions for passengers compared to buses; for example, travel time between Umeå and Luleå may be reduced by at least 1.5 hours.


References


External links


Official website
{{Authority control Railway lines in Sweden High-speed railway lines in Sweden Railway lines opened in 2010 2010 establishments in Sweden