There is a rich diversity of underground facilities in Sweden, with varying size and function, built to meet a variety of needs. Infrastructure projects are the most common type, including road and rail tunnels, car parks, wastewater treatment plants as well as storage for hazardous waste. Concert halls, museums and cinemas have been built in rock, and many disused underground facilities have been brought back to life with new functions.
Here we present a selection of projects in Sweden that illustrate the broad range of functions for which underground rock engineering can provide solutions.
The Stockholm metro system is being upgraded, and one of the projects involves the construction of a new depot for trains at Norsborg. Limited space above ground lay behind the…
The Arlanda Express connects central Stockholm with Arlanda Airport, Sweden’s busiest airport. High-speed trains, travelling at 200 km/h, cover the 40-km distance in just 20 minutes. The project involved the…
The railway system in the Gothenburg region has reached maximum capacity. Delays and disruptions are common, and the central station is a terminus, which causes a bottleneck. The capacity for…
Rättvik municipality had been looking for a suitable site for summer festivals, and it was the former opera singer Margareta Dellefors who discovered the perfect place in 1991 – a…
A large cinema complex has been built in central Gothenburg with little impact on the existing urban environment. Space was limited above ground, so the solution was to blast a…
The route of the West Coast Line over the Hallandsås Ridge had been a bottleneck for nearly a century. The solution was to build a tunnel through the ridge, but…
The municipal water company, Stockholm Vatten, has played a significant role in a growing Stockholm since 1861, when the first water treatment plant was built and households began to connect…
Two-thirds of households in Stockholm have access to a car, and around 15 percent of road surfaces are used for parking. Space is at a premium in the city, so…
