HH Tunnel

The HH Tunnel is a proposed series of tunnels under Øresund between Helsingborg, Sweden and Helsingør, Denmark. The connection is planned for passenger trains, and probably for freight trains and for road traffic.

Proposals for a second Øresund link (red, blue, and orange lines).

There is still no decision on the construction of the HH-route. Neither the Danish nor Swedish governments have committed to scheduling or financing. Local and regional authorities are involved in the project.

The largest proposals for connecting railways include new high-speed railways Jönköping–Helsingborg (Europabanan, 250 km) and Helsingør–Copenhagen (50 km) line. A tunnel for freight trains would also need gentle inclines making the tunnel 15 km long and have deeply located rail stations, or to have separate tunnels for freight and passenger trains. If a freight train tunnel is built then the connecting railway Hässleholm–Helsingborg (75 km) would need to be upgraded to double track and a new freight railway Helsingør–Roskilde (60 km) would need to be built.

Various Danish governments over the years have rejected the idea, especially freight trains and more road traffic through North Zealand such as the proposed Ring 5 motorway. As such, the project has never been given any high priority in Denmark. After Sweden had a change of government in the 2014 elections, the new Löfven government stated the HH Tunnel project was "one of several" they have in mind.

In 2018 a new prestudy was started by the two national authorities.[1][2] The directives for this prestudy does not contain any freight train adaptation for the tunnel. This study shall be finished by the end of 2020. Previous prestudy was mainly made by the city of Helsingborg.

Landskrona-Copenhagen alternative

Despite the emphasis on the "HH" route, it has been suggested that a link between Landskrona (in Sweden) and Nordhavn, in north Copenhagen, using a combination of a low level bridge and a short tunnel, below a central shipping lane in Øresund, would be easier to build. The distance is 20 km. Such a route would also cut up to 15 minutes from a journeys between Copenhagen on one hand and Helsingborg, south-west Sweden and Norway on the other – compared to a passenger tunnel between Helsingborg and Helsingør. From Nordhavn a road connection would be needed to leave the city. Since there is no room prepared on the ground for a direct road connection, either a 10 km long tunnel is needed, or using the existing motorway on a long detour past Kongens Lyngby which probably does not have the needed capacity.

A ring track connecting Landskrona (Sweden) => Nordhavn Ydre (Denmark) - Østerport - Nørreport - Copenhagen H - Ørestad - Tårnby - Copenhagen Airport => Hyllie (Sweden) - Triangeln - Malmö C - Lund - Landskrona, with Inter Regional trains clockwise and anti-clockwise three or four times per hour, also shortens the time between Lund, Landskrona and the four adjoining stations (in Copenhagen).[3][4][5][6][7][8]

It is also considered that Helsingør Station, Helsingør's existing, landmark terminal, may not be suitable for the increased passenger traffic on a direct Helsingborg-Helsingør route. That is, a pure goods line may be the only possibility, unless a new station is built at Helsingør.

References
  1. "En fast forbindelse mellem Helsingør og Helsingborg". Archived from the original on 2018-07-29. Retrieved 2019-07-17.
  2. Fast förbindelse mellan Helsingör och Helsingborg
  3. Swedish - http://framtidensinfrastruktur.se/foretagspresentation/europasparet-avlastar-oresundsbron/
  4. EUROPASPÅRET. "Utredning om nya core network-förbindelser i Öresundsregionen för internationell och regional utveckling". Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-06-13. Retrieved 2018-06-07.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-01-18.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Swedish governments reply to this suggestion, PDF at
  7. Danish - Svensk by vil grave tunnel til Nordhavn
  8. Danish - Svensk by vil grave tunnel til Nordhavn

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