At the beginning of the summer, the construction of a new station at Helsingborg Central Station was started and the idea is that this will increase capacity as train traffic increases in southern Sweden.
On 10 December, the station was supposed to be put into operation – but now it has been postponed.
"This is because we have fire safety protection requirements on us, which means that we need to add some functions to the new platform that we have not been able to get by the date it was supposed to open," says Malin Roberts, Head of Unit at the Swedish Transport Administration.
The new platform is classified as a building in the building permit issued by the City of Helsingborg and thus the requirements have been expanded, according to the Swedish Transport Administration.
"These include load-bearing capacity requirements, fire alarms and two-way communication. We haven't met that requirement before, so for us it's new requirements to relate to," says Malin Roberts.
Influencing travelers
This will affect train traffic, but the Swedish Transport Administration cannot yet answer how.
"At present, we do not know exactly which journeys will be affected, but we are talking to the railway companies to solve the passengers' journeys in the best possible way.
The idea is that the new station will take care of train traffic to the south and thus be able to increase train traffic.
Started construction without a start notice
The Swedish Transport Administration cannot say when the station can be put into use.
"The materials needed to meet the new requirements are things that are in short supply right now due to the global situation. But we are looking at different options and have the highest priority to solve this problem.
The Swedish Transport Administration will also pay a fine of almost half a million kronor for starting the construction of the station before receiving a start notice, something HD has reported on.
"It's related to fire protection. We had everything approved except that and felt that we had a time to fit in and that it could not hinder the progress of production. Of course, that's not what we really want to do," says Malin Roberts.
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Photo: SVT/Cecilia Jönsson Silfversparre