A station and a tunnel inaugurated in Sweden
The inauguration of the new Varberg station on 13 July 2025 marks the culmination of a five-year project led by SYSTRA Sweden in collaboration with the contractor Implenia.
www.systra.com
The coastal town of Varberg, in south-western Sweden, now has a new railway station, close to the historic centre and the old station, which dates back to 1880. It is served by regional trains operated by the national operator SJ and Öresundstågen, including the West Coast Line between Gothenburg and Lund, and the Viskadal line between Borås and Varberg.
In addition to the new station, the Swedish infrastructure authority (Trafikverket) has contracted Implenia to build a new 3.1km double-track railway tunnel. Atkins Sweden — which later merged with SYSTRA Sweden in 2023 was involved from the preparatory stages, collaborating with Implenia in the early stages during 2018–2019, where our innovative solutions for managing traffic operations during construction were a contributing factor to our success together with Implenia.
In late 2019 we began the preparation of construction documents, and the groundbreaking ceremony took place in December 2019. Since 2020, SYSTRA Sweden was entrusted with detailed design, works supervision, and detailed schedule management for the project. This project has also involved expertise from SYSTRA Italy (from SWS Engineering) in a Design Service Agreement contract from 2020 to 2025.
The creation of this new tunnel is part of a vast programme to modernise and develop the railway infrastructure of the West Coast Line., The solution with a tunnel and new station was chosen to accommodate the double tracks and enable the city to expand to the ocean as the old railway was a barrier between the city and the ocean. The new railway line also eliminated all the previous dangerous railway crossings.
At the heart of Sweden’s railway transformation
Thanks to the integration of Atkins in Sweden, our portfolio of projects in the country has grown considerably. In addition to SYSTRA’s existing assignments on the Ostlänken high-speed project and the Kolmården tunnel, the Avesta Krylbo stations and the deployment of ERTMS around Lund, the following projects have now been added:
. The Järna–Linköping section of the Ostlänken high-speed line (160km)
. The modernisation of the double-track line through the town of Hallsberg
. The electrification of the port service in Gäavle
. The doubling of tracks between Tomteboda and Kallhäll in Stockholm
SYSTRA is now a leading player in the country, well placed to continue supporting its current and future transformations.
www.systra.com
