ENR 2025 Global Best Projects
Award of Merit, Rail/Transit: Four Tracks: Lund-Flackarp and Flackarp-Arlöv
The project expanded one of Sweden’s busiest rail lines to four tracks from two while trains continued to operate.
Four Tracks: Lund-Flackarp and Flackarp-Arlöv
Lund and Arlöv, Sweden
Award of Merit, Rail/Transit
Submitted by OHLA
Owner: Trafikverket
Contractor: OHLA-NCC JV
Design Firms: AFRY; Tyréns Group AB; Centerlöf Holmberg
Transforming one of Sweden’s busiest railway arteries—without pausing a single day of operation—was a challenge for the Fyrspåret Lund–Arlöv project team. Stretching 11 km between Lund and Arlöv, the line is a critical link between major cities Malmö and Stockholm.
Its expansion to four tracks from two required engineering ingenuity and precision planning in dense urban environments where space, time and tolerance for error were razor thin.
The OHLA-NCC joint venture faced the logistical puzzle of keeping up to 650 daily trains running while excavating more than 5 km of depressed railway, installing temporary tracks and building a 400-m cut-and-cover tunnel in Åkarp using D-walls.
Subsoil variability, groundwater management and need for millimeter-level accuracy in a live transportation corridor added layers of complexity.
“Every activity was carefully planned to avoid operational conflicts, and contingency measures were in place to safeguard both workers and passengers,” says José Alberto García Arroyo, OHLA regional director. “The complexity of the task demanded collaboration across multiple disciplines, making this achievement a testament to engineering excellence and teamwork. It was like performing surgery on a moving patient.”
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