Rail Infrastructure Projects: From idea to reality

High-speed rail (HSR) has gathered growing interest worldwide. It is known to be an important factor in facilitating sustainable transportation and promoting urban and regional economic development. Research suggests it takes a long time to implement infrastructure projects in Sweden. Why is that?

The development of a high-speed rail network, linking three major Swedish cities, Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö, has been in discussion since 1993. The current target of completing the development of a high-speed railway by 2035, however, seems challenging.

Given the success of HSR around the world, this paper (through academic research and subject matter expertise) tries to identify the overall best practices and the lessons learnt. To do so, an overview research is conducted on HSR stories from Japan, Spain and the US to analyze how the process for building high-speed rail infrastructure - from idea to formal project decision and construction. This would essentially help to understand if Sweden stands out in an international context and to find possible solutions to speeding up the process in Sweden.