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Geografia d'Europa: textos de suport |
The Fixed Link across the Øresund includes the building of new motorway and railway in both Sweden and Denmark. And of course the tunnel, the artificial island and the bridge that connects Copenhagen and Malmö. Here you can read more about the architecture and construction.
1. The Danish Landworks
The Danish landworks related to the Øresund Link include 18 km double track electrified railway from the coast to Copenhagen Central Station (the "Øresund Line") and Vigerslev, as well as 9 km motorway from the coast to western Amager (the "Øresund Motorway"). The owner is A/S Øresund.
The Øresund Motorway runs alongside the Øresund Line from Copenhagen Airport to western Amager. The traffic corridor, which is as wide as 100 m in certain places, passes mainly through densely populated urban housing areas. Therefore, A/S Øresund have put great emphasis on the design of the bridges, landscape, noise screens and plantations along its alignment.
Cars and trains are hidden behind green noise barriers and screens most of the way, or run through tunnels. More than 350,000 trees and shrubs, among these 80,000 oak saplings, have been planted on the embankments. Throughout the inhabited part of Amager, the railway and the motorway run in an excavated trench and are decked over at Tårnby.
The Danish landworks comprise
18 km of railway (in red) and a 9 km long motorway (in yellow).
New railway between Copenhagen and the airport
The Øresund Line was opened on September
27 1998. The new railway means that there will be direct train connection
between Copenhagen Airport and Copenhagen, and thus the rest of Denmark.
The tracks diverge after the new bridge across Kalvebodløbet. Two
tracks for passenger traffic continue to Copenhagen Central
Station whilst the other line goes to
Vigerslev, and is intended for freight traffic. The passenger tracks run
through a 2 km long tunnel under Sydhavnsgade and then connect to the existing
tracks Copenhagen Central. Two stations are built on this stretch - Tårnby
and Ørestaden.
The freight line turns to the west and connects with the existing railway line at Vigerslev. Since the track passes through allotment and housing areas, it has been laid in a trench some 4-7 m deep, surrounded by noise barriers and dense vegetation.
The Øresund line is dimensioned for two freight trains, two Danish IC trains, two Swedish X2000 and six regional trains per hour in each direction. Passenger trains may not travel faster than 160 km/h.
The Øresund Motorway saves time
The Øresund Motorway between Kastrup and western Amager was the part of the Øresund Link that was completed first. The new motorway, that was opened for traffic on 27 September 1997, is designed for 12 million vehicles per year.
The motorway extends from Copenhagen Airport
to the existing motorway E20 on western Amager via the Tårnby Tunnel.
It has four carriageways, but can easily be extended to include six. The
Øresund Motorway gives a time benefit of 5 minutes, and considerably
more during rush hour, since the traffic is transferred from the
under-dimensioned local road network.
Changeable signs line the 700 m long Tårnby Tunnel to make it possible to lower the speed limit if an accident should occur. The traffic can also be stopped by red traffic lights and remote controlled barriers. Emergency escape exits to the adjacent tunnel tubes are located at 100 m intervals, as well as emergency telephones.
New station at Copenhagen Airport
The Øresund Link will have a direct railway connection with Copenhagen Airport. As the motorway and railway emerge from the tunnel portal on the Danish side, the passenger traffic is diverted to a station underneath the new flight terminal.
The station is expected to be one of Denmark's busiest in regard to traffic. In the year 2000, a train will arrive or depart every 4 minutes during rush hour. Initially, the train journey from Malmö Central Station will take 23 minutes. Already now you can travel between Copenhagen Central Station and the airport in 12 minutes.
The station is 320 m long and covered with a glass roof to let in the light and keep out the rain. Four double travellators take the passengers up and down between the station and the flight terminal.
Passengers arriving by train to Copenhagen
Airport can check in immediately upon arrival at the flight terminal, thus
ridding themselves of their luggage quickly before proceeding into the
airport.
2. Coast to Coast
The responsibility to finance, constructe, own and operate the fixed coast-to-coast link between Sweden and Denmark lies on Øresundskonsortiet. According to an agreement between the Danish and Swedish Governments, Øresundskonsortiet has the exclusive rights to collect toll fees from the link travellers. These earnings shall cover not only maintenance and interest costs; they shall also finance the repayment of the loans funding the construction works, which include the Danish and Swedish landworks in addition to the coast-to-coast link.
Øresundskonsortiet is owned equally by the Danish and Swedish states via A/S Øresund in Denmark and Svensk-Danska Broförbindelsen SVEDAB AB in Sweden. These two companies are jointly and severally responsible for all the undertakings of Øresundskonsortiet.
The coast-to-coast link comprises a four-lane motorway and a double track electrified railway between Lernacken on the Swedish side and Kastrup on the Danish side. In all, the link is almost 16 km long.
The island, Peberholm
The artificial island of "Pepparholm", located south of "Saltholm", is being built in order to transfer the traffic from the immersed tunnel up onto the approach bridge. Here, also, the traffic on the bridge, where road and rail run on different levels, can be rerouted to run in parallel through the tunnel, and vice versa. Pepparholm and the dredging works are carried out by the contractor Öresund Marine Joint Venture (ÖMJV). The artificial island was constructed by depositing dredged material within coarse pebble bunds.
"Pepparholm" is approximately 4 km long and mainly made up of dredged material from the Øresund seabed. A total of 1.6 million m³ of stone and 6 million m³ of sand and dredged material are required for its completion. Stones were placed to form the island contours, and the inside of the embankments lined with geotextile and mud to seal against seepage. Within the embankments, the interior was divided into sedimentation basins that were filled with dredged masses, basin by basin.
To minimise possible subsidence that could affect high-speed train traffic in the future, the areas accommodating the future traffic corridor are carefully compacted. The surrounding embankments are protected against erosion with filters, stones and rocks, which will guard against floods due to storms and elevated water levels.
The Artificial Peninsula
The artificial peninsula at Kastrup, constructed
by Öresund Marine Joint Venture (ÖMJV), covers 0.9 km² and
is made up of dredged material from the Øresund seabed. The
purpose of the peninsula is to accommodate the portal of the Øresund
tunnel. As the railway emerges from the tunnel onto the peninsula, it either
follows the
passenger traffic tracks to the station
under Kastrup Airport, or the freight track running north of the airport.
The motorway runs next to the freight track. Furthermore, a track to a
service and maintenance workshop for trains is under construction on the
peninsula.
The Dredging
The dredging in Öresund has several purposes,e.g.:
The Øresund Bridge
The Øresund Bridge is composed of a high bridge and two approach bridges and is constructed by the joint venture Sundlink Contractors. The high bridge will have the longest cable-stayed main span in the world for both road and rail traffic.
The bridge two-level superstructure is fabricated from steel and concrete. The steel girder supports the upper deck, which accommodates the motorway, and the lower deck where the railway is located. The tracks are placed in a concrete trough along the approach bridges, which changes to a steel deck on the high bridge. The Øresund Bridge extends half way across Øresund to the artificial island.
The High Bridge
The bridge crossing the Flintrännan navigation channel is a cable-stayed bridge, supported by the four pylon legs, each pair standing on a common caisson. Crossbeams under the bridge span also connect the pylon legs. The span is suspended by 80 cable pairs which are attached to the pylon legs at 12 m intervals. The high bridge is 1,092 m long, with a main span of 490 m and a navigation clearance of 57 m. To counteract sagging of the main span, an additional bridge pier (anchor pier) is located beneath each side span on either side of Flintrännan.
The pylon and anchor pier foundations are
made up of concrete caissons that are lowered into dredged pits some 13-28
m below sea level. Protective islands, designed to prevent ship collisions,
surround each caisson. The sections for the high bridge are mounted by
the floating crane "Svanen" and by temporary
piers resting on the seabed.
The Approach Bridges
Twenty-seven bridge spans form the 3,739-m long eastern approach bridge. Of these, 24 are 140 m long and 4 are 120 m long. The western approach bridge is 3,014 m long, comprising eighteen 140-m spans and four 120-m spans. The bridge's curved shape is the result of gradual changes in the angles at the joints between the bridge spans. These are located at the piers.
Fifty-one bridge piers support the approach bridges, placed in dredged pits some 15 m below sea level. Protective islands surround the anchor piers on either side of the pylons. A viaduct on the artificial island diverts the motorway traffic from the upper deck of the bridge to its new location next to the railway. The viaduct is a 560 m long concrete structure, cast in situ in 30 m sections.
The two mighty pylon foundations (caissons)
were cast in Kockum's dry dock. Since they were hollow, this allowed them
to be towed out to location in the bridge line using pontoons. Thereafter
they were lowered into dredged pits and the voids underneath the caissons
were filled with grout. Finally, the caisson interiors were
ballasted with sand and concrete.
Today, each caisson is a construction site
for the concrete workers who are casting the pylon legs using climbing
forms. The reinforcement is assembled in Limhamn Harbour and transported
to site. A floating batching plant, moored on a bank next to the east pylon,
supplies the concrete. The pylon legs are cast in 4-m
sections, with one casting per leg per
week.
The pylon legs are hollow, but their lower parts will be filled with concrete to increase their resistance to collision forces resulting from possible ship impact. The bridge piers and their caisson are cast at Sundlink's plant in Malmö North Harbour. The concrete road deck for the high bridge is also cast here, along with the approach bridge railway containment troughs.
The high bridge steel superstructure is assembled in Karlskronavarvet. They are composed of 20-m sections welded together to form 120 or 140-m sections. The completed elements are transported by barge from Karlskrona to Malmö, where the concrete roadway deck is added. The approach bridge girders are manufactured in Cadiz, Spain, including casting of the road deck. The railway containment troughs are installed upon arrival in Malmö.
The completed bridge elements are placed in the bridge line by the floating pontoon crane Svanen, originally built for the construction of the Great Belt Bridge. Svanen's lifting tool has a lifting capacity of 8,700 tonnes and was tailor-made for the erection of the Øresund Link bridges. It weighs 1,800 tonnes and can lift bridge piers, caissons and girders and place them in the bridge line. Svanen is considerably stronger than the Kockums crane in Malmö, whose lifting capacity is limited to 1,500 tonnes. Using the satellite navigation system GPS, Svanen can place the elements to the required precision.
The immersed tunnel
The western part of the Øresund Link is a 4 km long tunnel between the artificial island and the artificial peninsula at Kastrup. The tunnel, which will be the longest immersed tube tunnel for both road and rail traffic in the world, is being built by Øresund Tunnel Contractors (ØTC). The tunnel elements are cast in an assembly line operation at Copenhagen North Harbour. The elements are then floated and towed to the tunnel trench at Drogden.
The immersed tube tunnel is composed of
twenty 176 m long elements, weighing up to 55,000 tonnes apiece. They are
manufactured in a custom-made concrete factory in Copenhagen's North Harbour.
Each element is composed of eight 22 m segments, of which each is cast
in one single operation, taking approximately 24
hours. In this way production capacity
increases whilst the risk of cracking is minimised.
The segments are fabricated on two parallel
lines, each producing one segment per week. Following three days of setting,
the segments are pushed forward on concrete beams, and the element ends
are temporarily sealed against water inflow. When eight segments are joined,
the entire element is pushed from the fabrication
hall to the adjoining dry dock. The dry
dock is flooded whilst the elements are still resting on the beams. As
the water level rises, so do the elements, which are towed to the deepest
part of the water-filled dry dock and then moored, pending towing to location.
Four tugs tow a tunnel element to location in the tunnel trench, a distance of 12 km. Prior to the towing operation, pontoons and cable fixing points are mounted on the element. Once the element is in place, it is attached to anchors surrounding the tunnel trench by mooring cables.
The placing procedure starts by pumping water into the element's ballast tanks. The subsequent lowering is controlled via steel cables, fastened to the pontoons. One of the mooring cables pulls the lowered element against the neighbouring, previously placed element.
When the element is in place, water is pumped out from the bulkhead located at the interface between the two elements. The external water pressure forces the elements together, and a rubber seal keeps the joint watertight. Once the element is in place, the trench is filled up on either side and over the tunnel roof. In the shipping channel, the top of this protective layer is at 10 m below sea level.
The approach ramps to the tunnel portals are part of the reclamation works. Embankments are built up along these areas. When the embankments have been sealed against water seepage, the area is drained and fill is placed simultaneously with the construction of the ramps.
The in situ construction works begin where the first element of the immersed tunnel is placed. Following casting of the bottom slab, the inner walls are erected, followed by the exterior walls and the roof. A service building with supervision equipment is built at each portal. These are placed on top of the tunnel.
Cross section of the tunnel
showing the two tubes for the motorway (left) and the two tubes for the
railway (right).
Travelling side by side in 4 tubes, the
motorway and railway pass through the tunnel. A centrally located gallery,
used for emergency evacuation and installations, runs along the entire
tunnel length. The tunnel is lit, with transition zones at the portals
to accustom the traveller to daylight when emerging. The internal walls
of the tunnel tubes are clad with fireproof material, and it is never more
than 100 m to the nearest emergency exit
from any one place. In the railway tunnel,
the emergency exits are located at 50 m intervals.
3. The Swedish Connections to Øresund
"Svensk-Danska Broförbindelsen SVEDAB
AB", owned equally by Banverket and Vägverket, implements the Swedish
landworks. These are divided into three parts:
Environmental Issues
The Swedish land connections inevitably involve major impact on the environment. The traffic corridor between Lernacken and Lernacken/Fosieby cuts through the flat countryside south of Malmö. The railway then continues north on the Continental Line, straight through densely built-up areas of Malmö.
The first environmental issue that SVEDAB handled involved the decontamination of the old garbage dump at Lernacken. 1.6 million m³ required moving and about 20% of this material were handled with particular care to avoid seepage into the ground water.
A number of delay reservoirs (dams) are being constructed between Lernacken and Lockarp to process the drainage and surface water from the motorway. The water is purified by broad irrigation of slopes, separation in ditches and sedimentation in the dams.
Increased noise levels from traffic was another major environmental issue that required special attention. Up to now, the area between the bridge abutment and Lernacken/Fosieby has been virtually free from noise disturbance. Through the provision of embankments, noise barriers and improved windows, all noise levels in the area are kept within the limits stipulated by the Swedish National Environment Protection Board, with the exception of two buildings in the vicinity that required other measures.
The railway traffic on the Continental
Line was already a source of high noise levels in the urban housing areas
of e.g. Persborg, Almhög, Gullvik and Hindby. Thanks to 2-m high noise
barriers along most of this stretch as well as sealing or replacement of
windows, the noise level will actually be reduced, in spite of the increase
in
traffic to the double. As a result of
the noise-reducing measures, no residential building is subjected to higher
noise levels than before, and the largest reductions has been achieved
for those who needed them most.
Malmö Central Station and freight yards
Malmö Central Station and freight
yards have been modified to accommodate the traffic increase expected as
a result of the fixed Øresund and Great Belt Links. The freight
yard arrival and departure tracks have been extended to comprise 10 tracks
instead of 7. A by-pass track has also been added. Furthermore, all tracks
have been extended to the north to accommodate
trains of up to 750 m in length.
The Malmö C railway
station has been redeveloped in order to cope with the increased traffic
on the Continental Line to the Øresund Link (marked in red) and
to the City Tunnel. The City Tunnel will eventually carry all passenger
traffic (marked in blue).
The existing container terminal has been relocated to make room for the reconstruction of the freight yards. The existing freight track for traffic between the yards and the Continental Line has been doubled. Freight traffic that does not require marshalling can therefore travel straight onto the Continental Line via new bridges crossing the South Main Line's main track and Stockholmsvägen.
One of the tracks between Malmö Central Station and the Continental Line has been rerouted to cross a new bridge across the South Main Line, thereafter connecting to the existing tracks at Lundavägen station.
The Continental Line
The Continental Line with its 100 years will be an artery for all rail-bound traffic between Malmö Central Station and the Øresund Link for years to come. In order to accommodate the increase in rail traffic, the Continental Line has been extended to a high-speed, double-track railway, which requires modification to the section between Stockholmsvägen and Fosieby/Lockarp. For safety reasons, all junctions with the road system is grade separated.
Almost all existing bridges has been modified. New bridges provide grade separation at Industrigatan, Hindbyvägen (bicycle and pedestrian underpass) and the Outer Ring Road. Since the Continental Line passes through residential areas in Malmö, SVEDAB has erected noise barriers along most of the distance and provided additional noise-reducing measures to further minimise the discomfort to the inhabitants in the vicinity.
Most passenger traffic will be transferred to the Malmö City Tunnel upon its completion, which means that the traffic on the Continental Line will later be reduced by two-thirds.
In order to integrate the Contintal Line
in the town structure, SVEDAB and Malmö City have established plantations
and parks adjacent to the railway. Great care has been devoted to the design
of the new bridges crossing Lundavägen, Industrigatan and Ystadvägen,
with a view to maintaining as much openness and light as
possible.
The overall aim of the design has been to unite the urban areas on either side of the railway and to give priority to a healthy living environment along the tracks, insofar as possible.
The Øresund Line/Outer Ring Road
The traffic to and from the Øresund Link travels along a 90-m wide corridor between Lernacken and Lockarp, with the railway (the Øresund Line) in the middle, flanked on either side by the motorway (the Outer Ring Road). The Øresund Line connects to the Continental Line at the Fosieby junction. The Outer Ring Road continues for another 10 km northeast of Malmö before joining up with the existing E6/E22 motorways at Kronetorp junction.
The large traffic corridor
south of Malmø will be 90 m wide with the Øresund Line in
the centre (marked in red) and the Outer Ring Road on each side (in yellow).
Slip roads to the City Tunnel1 (marked in blue) will be built .
Between Lockarp and Lernacken, three junctions
exist along the motorway. Petersborg, the largest junction, will be the
new main point of intersection for road traffic south of Malmö. Here,
the Outer Ring Road crosses beneath the E6 motorway to Trelleborg. The
last exit to Malmö is Vintrie junction. The traffic corridor travels
over the bridges crossing Kalkbrottsgatan
before reaching the terminal area at Lernacken.
After the toll area, the railway is diverted to a 500-m tunnel in order to emerge on the railway deck of the two-level bridge, i.e. underneath the road deck. In all, a total of 30 bridges will be constructed between Lernacken and Lockarp, including a special wildlife crossing between Vintrie and Bunkeflovägen.
The Øresund Link will greatly transform the countryside south of Malmö. However, the design principle for the landscaping and the bridges is that the new traffic corridor shall be governed by the surrounding countryside. Although the extensive landworks will be the dominating feature on Lernacken, the possibility of making Lernacken accessible as a recreational area is conceived, and a large part of the magnificent nature is preserved.
East of Lernacken, the landscape levels out. To avoid competition with the agricultural society and to offer travellers a better view, the landscape architects have decided not to introduce new vegetation along the motorway. Instead, plantations are used to enhance the existing plant life.
The traffic corridor continues over the undisturbed flatlands between Bunkeflovägen and Vintrie. A 65 m wide "eco-duct", or underpass for both humans and wildlife, connects the countryside on either side of the corridor.
The 90 m wide traffic corridor between Lockarp/Fosieby and Lernacken passes through the northern part of the Glostorp-Lockarp-Oxie area, a region of national interest due to the considerable amount of archaeological artefacts discovered here.
The area was thoroughly investigated by archaeologists before the excavators took over. Several interesting finds were unearthed, including a unique bronze buckle found in Naffentorp, dating from the beginning of the 11th century, as well as a number of well-preserved coins from the 16th century.
Fuente: Oresundskonsortiet
http://www.oresundskonsortiet.com/
Última actualització: 13 de junio de 2002