Jämförelsestudie av strategiska stationsplaceringar på Höghastighetsbanan - Värnamo station

Sammanfattning: The Swedish railway system has a lack of capacity, which has caused major delays and problems with punctuality. One of the reasons is the increase in rail traffic over the recent decades. To reduce the pressure on existing railways, the Swedish government is planning to construct the first Swedish high-speed rail link. Connecting Stockholm, Göteborg and Malmö with high-speed trains. A high-speed railway will make it possible to travel between Stockholm-Gothenburg in two hours and Stockholm-Malmö in two and a half hours. Eighteen stations for high speed trains will be situated along the railway. The stations are planned to be situated in small and large municipalities linking them to two airports and the three largest cities in Sweden. There are some complex factors to take into consideration when choosing location of the stations. Each location will have its own advantages and disadvantages. There are three strategies when deciding on the location of the station. The first is a centrally located station, where it’s easy to access and already have existing established businesses. The second is a tangentially located station, at the very edge of the city. The third is an externally located station which is situated outside the city. This kind of station will require the establishment of new businesses. In the high-speed railway project, localization of the larger stations and the end-point traffic is prioritized, resulting in smaller stations getting less optimal locations. This study investigates two potential station localisations in Värnamo municipality. A centrally located station and a tangentially located station are studied. The purpose is to show which pros and cons a centrally located station and a tangentially located station will have on Värnamo municipality. The methods used in this study are: a simplified successive calculation, a simplified track design and a review of the municipality of Värnamo. In the simplified track design, track geometry, ground profile and conditions are all taken into consideration to find the optimal locations for the high-speed rail. The results are used in a SWOT analysis to evaluate which of the station locations are the most advantageous and profitable for Värnamo municipality. The result of the SWOT analysis is compiled into a list of positive and negative criteria for each location. The centrally located station gets the criteria “accessibility” and “community development” under positive and the criteria “landscape”, “health and safety”, “human resources available”, “feasibility” and “costs” under negative. The tangentially located station gets the criteria “landscape”, “health and safety”, “feasibility” and “costs” under positive. Under negative are “accessibility”, “community development” and “resources available to man”. Which station location is most suitable for Värnamo municipality is still difficult to determine, and a deeper study of both station locations is needed.