Hallandsås Tunnel

The Hallandsås tunnel is a railway tunnel in Sweden under construction. The planned length is 8,5 km (5,3 miles). It will be located on the Västkustbanan (West coast railway), on the part between Ängelholm and Halmstad in southwestern Sweden.

The construction began in 1992, and the traffic opening was planned to 1995.

The constructor had big problems with water coming from the rock, only a small amount was permitted. The construction was halted 1997, not having reached halfway, because a poisonous sealing compound was used, and because multiple the permitted amount of water was flowing from the rock.

The work began again year 2005, with a completion estimated at 2012. That time plan has during the first year after the re-start not been maintained.

The cost was expected in 1992 to be 1 bn SEK (110 M€). The cost from 1992 to 1997 was in reality more than 2 bn SEK, for clearly less than half the tunnel length. Since the remaining cost when starting 2005 was calculated to be more than 4 bn SEK (430 M€), there has been much debate and hesitation whether to give up everything or start again. The total cost might reach 8 bn SEK (850 M€) in the end according to the lastest calculation.

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