Sweden opens its longest rail tunnel

 The tunnel was inaugurated on December 9
On December 9 Swedish Minister Mikael Damberg officially inaugurated the opening of the 8.7km Hallandsås tunnel.
The project, which also involved the construction of three new stations, will allow the number of trains on the Gothenburg – Malmö line to increase from four to 24 per hour. The tunnel will open to traffic on December 13. The $1.3 billion project was partly funded by the European ::::union:::: through the Trans-European Transport Network programme.
During construction, which started in 1992, several problems occurred. By 1997, only one third of the tunnel had been constructed due to difficult ground conditions. Work was halted that year because of environmental concerns over ground water ingress. Work on the project resumed in 2003.

Dec 09, 2015International Railway Journal
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