View on the proposed new station in Linköping (source: metroarkitekter.se/linkoping)

Practice

Ostlänken (‘the Eastern Link’) is a planned high-speed railway in Sweden, intended to run from Södertälje (just south of Stockholm) to Linköping. The time plan is to start building by 2017, with completion scheduled within the next eleven years. The construction costs for the new 160-kilometre railway is calculated to be 30 billion SEK. The Swedish rail administration established a railway investigation, which was decided upon in 2010. In 2012 the Swedish Government commissioned the Swedish Transport Administration to continue planning the expansion of the Ostlänken. The railway will allow train speeds of 320 kilometres per hour (200 mph). Long-distance trains would call at Stockholm Central Station and Södertälje Syd before joining the new line, on which there would be an intermediate stop at Norrköping, and reach Linköping about 40 minutes faster than by the existing line. Looking beyond the ‘Ostlänken’, a new railway connecting Linköping-Göteborg via Jönköping is planned, called Götalandsbanan. Together, the Ostlänken and Götalandsbanan railways would allow trains to travel between Stockholm-Göteborg in less than two hours. Currently it is not decided how the railway will cross the city.

Issues

Corridor level:
Key preconditions are not yet defined: The future role of Linköping in the corridor and within the Linköping – Norrköping region. Is it an integrated part of the wider Stockholm area or one urban agglomeration in a chain? Will it include one or two metropoles? Or will it involve several smaller regional centres? (space);		Government funding. Land ownership, urban planning and investment strategy need to be investigated (value);		What kind of cooperative organisation can be used? Some characteristics are joint vision, joint organisation, clear mandates, risk sharing, relevant competences and decision-making proces (institutional).
Regional / DUS level:
Do connections between Linköping and Norrköping include connections to adjacent towns? Relation with the airport? (network);		Crucial relations and travel times are not identified (time);		Strong focus on infrastructure while relationship with long-term urban development (and the flexibility needed) is not defined yet (time).
Local level:
Land use, profile and physical features of developing areas within the city (space); Focus on priority urban development areas (space);		Future location of main travel attractions (university, business district, hospital, cultural centres) (space);		Local level: Connections to the university area, organisation of the station area including interchanges to local transport networks. Competing or combined/complementing services? (network).

Map at street level of the proposed new station area in Linköping (source: metroarkitekter.se/linkoping)