Distances in the Göta valley are now shrinking. The BanaVäg i Väst project is creating shorter journey times and a better environment between Göteborg and Trollhättan.
One of Sweden’s biggest and most eagerly awaited infrastructure projects will be completed by 2012. This is Highway 45 between Göteborg and Trollhättan, which is being expanded to create a four-lane road, whilst the railway along the entire Göta valley is being made double-track.
Highway 45 is currently an extremely busy road with very heavy traffic, many bottlenecks and recurrent flooding, making things difficult for road users.
The single-track and partially fairly bendy railway has simultaneously meant that goods traffic has reached capacity, and with the present railway it is impossible to offer an attractive alternative to commuting on the Trollhättan-Göteborg route.
Eagerly awaited investment
Expansion of the road and the railway were already included in the regular road plan and will now be realised as part of the so-called Trollhättan Package. The first work started in 2004, and the entire route from Göteborg to Trollhättan will be completed by 2012.
Building in a sensitive environment
The expansion of Highway 45 and the Norway/Vänern rail route is a major project involving many challenges.
It involves expansion of a road and a railway in a sensitive environment with some difficult geotechnical conditions and limited room for rerouting traffic during the construction period.
Furthermore, the expansion affects four municipalities, and a large part of the road and rail routes passes through a local-planning area, necessitating that everything works out in the decision-making process.
The project in short
- Göteborg-Trollhättan, length approx. 75 km
- Highway 45 is being expanded to a four-lane highway
- The Norway/Vänern rail route is being expanded to a two-track railway dimensioned for speeds of up to 250 km/hr
- Construction period 2004–2012.
- Journey time by car: 40–45 minutes (as against nearly an hour today)
- Journey time by express train: 30–35 minutes (as against about 50 minutes today)
- Planned commuter stations in Gamlestaden, Surte, Bohus, Nödinge, Nol, Älvängen and Tingberg
- Cost approx. SEK 10 billion
