The North Bothnia Line ( sv, Norrbotniabanan) is a planned

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 between

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 ...

and

Luleå Central Station Luleå Central Station ( sv, Luleå centralstation) or Luleå C is a railway station located on the Main Line Through Upper Norrland in Luleå, Sweden. The station is owned by Jernhusen and is the terminal of the line. The station is located at ...

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 line would be long and be a northern extension of the

Bothnia Line The Bothnia Line ( sv, Botniabanan) is a high-speed railway line in northern Sweden. The long route, from Höga Kusten Airport, where it connects to the Ådalen Line, via Örnsköldsvik to Umeå, was opened in 2010 and trains are allowed to t ...

, which opened in 2010. The planned extension is expected to improve accessibility between larger cities along Sweden's coast and handle 1.6 million passengers per year. Currently, the area is served by the

Main Line Through Upper Norrland The Main Line Through Upper Norrland ( sv, Stambanan genom övre Norrland) is a long railway line between Bräcke, Jämtland County and Boden, Norrbotten County in Sweden. For military and regional policy reasons, it was built in very sparsely p ...

, which is located inland and with branch lines connected to various towns along the coast. To the north, the line will connect with the Main Line Through Upper Norrland and onwards along the

Haparanda Line The Haparanda Line ( sv, Haparandabanan) is a long railway line between Boden and Haparanda in Sweden. There is a long section from Haparanda to Torneå, which is on the Finnish side of the Finland–Sweden border. The line is the only Swedis ...

to connect to the

Barents Region The Barents Region is a name given, by advocates of establishing international cooperation after the fall of the Soviet Union, to the land along the coast of the Barents Sea, from Nordland in Norway to the Kola Peninsula in Russia and beyond a ...

and the Finnish railway network. It will also connect to the

Iron Ore Line The Iron Ore Line ( sv, Malmbanan) is a long railway line between Riksgränsen and Boden in Norrbotten County, Sweden, owned by Trafikverket (the Swedish Transport Administration). The line also contains two branches, from Kiruna to Svappavaara ...

. The project is estimated to cost 23 billion

Swedish kronor The krona (; plural: ''kronor''; sign: kr; code: SEK) is the official currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it b ...

(SEK). The line will connect to Stockholm via the Bothnia Line, the

Ådalen Line The Ådalen Line ( sv, Ådalsbanan) is a railway line between Sundsvall and Långsele in Sweden. At Sundsvall, the line intersects with the Central Line and the East Coast Line. At Långsele, the line intersects with the Main Line Through Up ...

and the East Coast Line. The Main Line Through Upper Norrland has a maximum permitted train weight of per Rc locomotive, while the North Bothnia Line will be built for and will reduce transport distance by for many freight routes. An upgrade of the Main Line has been considered, but because of the curvy right-of-way most of the line would have to be built in an all-new right-of-way, which would raise costs to about the same as the North Bothnia Line. In addition, the Main Line's inland route makes it unsuitable for regional passenger services and gives longer distances. Travel time from Umeå to Luleå for passenger trains will be 90 minutes, compared to over 4 hours for buses or trains today. The first part of the line to be built is a section from Umeå to Dåva industrial area, where construction started on 23 August 2018, with opening for traffic scheduled for 2024. As of 2022, the rest of the Umeå–

Skellefteå Skellefteå (, locally ) is a Cities in Sweden, city in Västerbotten County, Sweden. It is the seat of Skellefteå Municipality, which had 73,246 inhabitants in 2021. The city is historically industrial, with mining being a large part of that i ...

half is under advanced planning, while studies for Skellefteå–Luleå began in 2021.

References

External links

{{portalbar, rail transport, Sweden High-speed railway lines in Sweden Proposed public transport in Sweden Rail transport in Norrbotten County Rail transport in Västerbotten County