Norway and Sweden Break Through on 31-Mile Rail Tunnel Beneath Mountain Border

TRONDHEIM, Norway — Tunnel crews working from Norway and Sweden met roughly 2,000 feet beneath the mountains that divide the two countries on Friday, completing the main bore of a 31-mile rail tunnel that planners say will reshape freight and passenger travel across the Scandinavian peninsula.

The two teams, which had been drilling toward each other for nearly six years, were off by less than two inches when they joined, according to the Nordic Link Rail Consortium, the joint company building the project. Workers shook hands through a narrow opening before swapping flags, a tradition on major tunneling projects.

“Six years of work, and the difference was about the width of a coin,” said Ingrid Solbakken, the consortium’s chief engineer. “That is a tribute to every surveyor who never went home early.”

A shorter, flatter route

The tunnel, budgeted at about $6.8 billion, is the centerpiece of a new line linking the Norwegian coast near Trondheim with the Gulf of Bothnia on the Swedish side. Today, trains between the two regions climb steep grades and wind through mountain passes that are often closed by snow for days at a time in winter.

Once the tunnel opens, planners expect the trip for passenger trains to fall from about five and a half hours to just under three. Freight trains will be able to run longer and heavier, because the tunnel’s gentle slope removes the need for extra locomotives on the climb.

• Length: 31 miles, making it one of the longest rail tunnels in Europe
• Cost: about $6.8 billion, shared between the two governments and the EU
• Expected opening: 2031, after track, power and safety systems are installed
• Freight goal: about 400,000 truck trips a year shifted to rail

Support and skepticism

Business groups on both sides have backed the project, arguing that it will give Swedish timber and mineral producers a faster path to Atlantic ports and help Norwegian seafood exporters reach European markets by rail. Regional officials say the line could also link two labor markets that are close on a map but far apart by road.

For a hundred years these mountains have been a wall. This tunnel turns them into a doorway, and every town along the line will feel the difference.

Erik Lindqvist, chair of the Jämtland–Trøndelag Regional Council

Not everyone is convinced the projected traffic will materialize. A study by the Scandinavian Transport Policy Center last year found that freight forecasts used to justify the line assumed shippers would switch to rail at rates higher than those seen on comparable European corridors. The group recommended that both governments set clear targets and publish annual figures once service begins.

Reindeer herding communities, whose seasonal grazing routes cross the area, also raised concerns early in the planning process about construction traffic and new fencing. The consortium said it had built 14 crossing points and agreed to restrict heavy work during spring migrations, an arrangement that herding representatives described as workable but in need of continued monitoring.

Environmental groups have largely supported the line, saying it could cut carbon emissions from long-haul trucking across the region. But some cautioned that the climate benefits depend on how quickly freight companies change their habits. “A tunnel by itself doesn’t move a single ton,” said Maja Eklund, a transport analyst at the Green Corridors Network in Stockholm. “Pricing, schedules and reliability will decide whether shippers actually use it.”

The next phase of work involves lining the tunnel, laying track and installing ventilation, signaling and emergency exits. The consortium said it expected test trains to run through the bore in 2030, with full commercial service the following year. For the crews underground on Friday, the moment was more personal. Several workers said they had spent most of their careers on the project. “My son was in kindergarten when we started,” said Anders Holm, a drilling supervisor. “Now he’s asking when he can ride the train.”