Response to interpellation 2025/26:184 on a tunnel under Södertälje Canal
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
1 KD argues that the government is investing heavily in infrastructure and that robustness and redundancy around the capital is important 1 2 3. KD emphasizes that the total defense's needs are now included in the national plan and that 50 billion kronor have been allocated for the construction of civil defense, where a significant part goes to transport infrastructure 2 3. KD considers that Trafikverket's proposal to widen the bridge in Södertälje increases capacity 3. KD argues that half of the funds for infrastructure are already locked for maintenance 3. KD emphasizes the importance of short-term measures to meet business needs and total defense perspectives 3 4. 5 C argues that Södertälje is a strategic node and that the current infrastructure is vulnerable 5. C claims that there is a lack of basis for a tunnel under Södertälje canal 5 6. C considers that the government must take responsibility for producing a basis for a tunnel to secure the connections 6.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Kerstin Lundgren has asked me if I am prepared to give a mandate to Trafikverket to accelerate a planning process for a tunnel under Södertälje kanal, as well as if I plan to take any measures to increase the total defense security for the infrastructure around Södertälje kanal and, if so, which ones. Kerstin Lundgren has further asked me if I intend to take any measures to increase the security in the interface under Södertälje kanal and, if so, which ones.
The infrastructure needs are great in many places in Sweden. It has long been clear to me that tough prioritizations will need to be made, despite the fact that the government is investing heavily in infrastructure and despite the fact that the frameworks for both maintenance and investments have increased compared to the previous period.
The Government wants to shape a robust and efficient transport infrastructure system where the advantages of each mode of transport can be utilized in the best way and complement each other. A well-functioning infrastructure is crucial for Swedish competitiveness and for all of Sweden to function. The economic framework for the next planning period, 2026–2037, amounts to 1,171 billion kronor. It is a historically large investment where we have increased the infrastructure framework by over 200 billion kronor compared to the previous planning period and where we prioritize caring for the existing transport system and prioritizing maintenance while the transport system can be developed.
Against that background, Trafikverket has been tasked with developing a proposal for a new national plan for the period 2026–2037. In the assignment to Trafikverket, the government has, among other things, emphasized that socio-economic profitability shall be guiding, that it is important to have a corridor and system perspective, and that the deteriorated security policy situation and the needs of the total defense need to be considered. Objects that are not transport-politically justified but primarily aim to strengthen civil or military defense must, however, be assessed and financed in a special order. These objects shall therefore not be included in the proposal for the national plan.
Trafikverket's proposal for a new plan was submitted to the government earlier this autumn. Trafikverket's assessment is that the plan proposal collectively will contribute to a more robust transport system. Increased robustness is beneficial in all societal conditions and also provides benefits for society-critical transports and military mobility.
I am aware of the need for measures in the transport infrastructure to and through Södertälje. It is important for Södertälje and its business community but also for other traffic to and from the Stockholm area as well as for Sweden as a whole.
Trafikverket's planning proposal does not contain a tunnel under Södertälje kanal. Trafikverket's planning proposal does, however, contain a number of objects linked to Södertälje, including a new object which involves capacity reinforcements on the existing motorway bridge in Södertälje. The proposed object involves a widening of the bridge to enable an expansion from two to three lanes in each direction, but it also contains measures to strengthen the robustness of the motorway bridges.
I want to emphasize that there are no positions from the government so far regarding the Transport Agency's proposal, which is currently being prepared. At the moment, as the member knows, a referral process for the proposal is underway. A decision from the government is planned during the spring of 2026.
Kerstin Lundgren (C)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you, Minister, for the answer to my questions, or at least an answer!
Sweden is in a new security policy situation. In Södertälje municipality, there are several companies that are vital for the needs of the total defense. The municipality simultaneously constitutes a node for large transport projects that are strategic for both Stockholm and the country's supply and total defense. For these, the state bears the responsibility.
It is primarily about the motorway bridge that connects E4 and E20 and which is central for the supply of the Stockholm area, but also for the soon-to-be-completed Förbifart Stockholm under Mälaren.
Mälarbron and Saltsjöbron constitute possible reserve routes today, but they are at the same time just as easy to knock out as the motorway bridge. The risks with a strategic infrastructure that is easy to knock out have been shown with undesirable clarity in Ukraine. The reserve bridges are also a recurring source of uncertainty today. Many have felt the problems there, and that is in peacetime.
The vulnerability is high regarding all connections through Södertälje. The vulnerability of the E4 and E20 sections was demonstrated in peacetime on Midsummer Eve, June 24, 2016. The drivers celebrated Midsummer Eve by opening the trunk and trying to eat the food they had brought for the Midsummer party, because they could not move forward.
The question of the strategic infrastructure's vulnerability must, however, in today's security policy situation, be given a significantly larger space than what has previously been the case. I hear the Minister say that it needs to be considered, but considered is not enough. It is required that there is a higher level.
The Minister mentions that if they are transport-politically justified projects that primarily aim to strengthen civil or military defense, they must be assessed and financed in a special order. I then naturally ask if the Minister has taken any measures to be able to make that assessment and to secure that financing.
It is obvious that one does not have a basis to be able to handle what I request, what Scania requests, what Astra requests, what Södertälje municipality requests, what many companies in the region request, and what all Södertörn municipalities agree is prioritized. It is a tunnel under Södertälje canal to also secure the connections across this interface for a restless time.
It is one of the most heavily trafficked areas in the country. Approximately 65,000–66,000 transports pass daily. It is one of the three most heavily trafficked bridges in Sweden. Here, in the Mälaren section, we have secured a bypass that goes under Mälaren in order not to end up in the vulnerability that Essingeleden represented. But we have not secured the access road to the bypass, namely Södertälje kanal. Here, efforts are required first and foremost to produce a basis for assessing a tunnel.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! Thank you very much, member, for the commitment to the issue!
The robustness of the infrastructure and transport system is important throughout the country. Robustness, redundancy, and sustainability around the capital region are very important, to put it mildly. It does not only benefit the companies that the member specifically refers to in Södertälje. It is also important, as I mentioned in my answer, for transport in and around the Stockholm area but also for transport in all of Sweden.
Therefore, it is of course important that now that we have received a basis, a proposal from Trafikverket regarding a new national plan, the needs of the total defense have been taken into account significantly more clearly than before.
There is an appendix to the national plan concerning the requirements of the total defense. There are also other documents, Mr. Speaker, which provide a very clear description of the requirements that the Armed Forces see. This also applies to that which will not be accommodated within the national plan for the transport-policy motivated measures. It may also be important to handle in a special order.
The members of the committee ask what assessments and underlying data exist for that work. Let me first say that the government, after negotiations and in broad consensus, has announced that 50 billion kronor shall be allocated for the construction of the civil defense. A significant part of that will go towards the reinforcement and upgrading of the infrastructure and the transport system.
We will of course return with more details about that. But it is clear that much can be learned from our friends in Ukraine, whom we continue to support tirelessly. We naturally have a moral responsibility to continue that support also when it comes to the reconstruction of the transport infrastructure here and now and for the future. There are also many lessons to be drawn from that cooperation. There, of course, redundancy and robustness in the transport infrastructure system is important.
Mr. Speaker! The member sits quite often as Speaker during this type of debate. She knows quite well, perhaps better than most members in the chamber, that at this stage of the planning process I will not, cannot, or should not give answers regarding various individual objects.
The process in Sweden, which we have a broad consensus on, is based on the government proposing an infrastructure proposition which is then processed and decided by the Riksdag. The frameworks are locked for both maintenance, that is, upkeep, and for new investments, that is, development of the infrastructure.
After that, the government requested Trafikverket to prepare a proposal for a national plan. Once it has been prepared, it is sent out for a broad consultation, and that is currently ongoing. Municipalities, regions, companies, and interest organizations have a few more weeks to submit their reactions, proposals, and input for the continued work.
I will be holding consultation meetings with a number of different actors at the ministry next week. After that, the government will make a decision on a new national plan during the first half of 2026.
Parallel to that, an investigation is underway where the former Auditor General Claes Norgren is looking at alternative and more efficient ways to carry out infrastructure. We have also not taken a position in advance on any list of which objects those could be.
Kerstin Lundgren (C)
Mr. Speaker! I am fully aware of the process. In that regard, the Minister is correct. But there is a concern, Mr. Speaker. If there were a basis that could indicate that it was a possible position, I would feel quite satisfied. But here, there is no basis for a possible position for a tunnel under Södertälje canal.
It would be a tunnel for the motorway, E4 and E20, which are central to Sweden, the Stockholm region and Södertälje. Södertälje has quite a lot of problems as a result of them too, to put it mildly. It is fundamentally a question for all of us. It is the total defense perspective that is so central.
I hear the Minister of State mention the companies that I mentioned and which are located in Södertälje. They are Scania and Astra. They are two companies that are central and vital for Sweden's total defense. It is about being able to maintain much of the vehicles and other things and about securing vehicles and medical supplies for the entire country. As I mentioned, they are two companies that are central for our total defense and also for our NATO allies' defense. It is extremely important to secure the strategic position formed by the fact that the E4 and E20 merge precisely in Södertälje.
Södertäljepassagen belongs to a handful of infrastructural passages that can be considered strategically critical. Other examples are the Öresund Bridge, Älvsborgsbron in Gothenburg, Norra länken, Essingeleden in Stockholm, the main line through Skåne, as well as the Malmbanan in northern Sweden, of course.
One must take a clearer responsibility for the strategically critical infrastructural passages. They cannot simply be considered and viewed as a regular traffic planning issue. This must receive a much clearer focus. It should be the government's responsibility to ensure that bases are developed so that decisions can truly be made on sound grounds.
Now I heard the Minister say that Trafikverket, in the plan that is to be sent out for consultation, has developed proposals for measures. Yes, Mr. Speaker, and it is about bottleneck measures. Trafikverket has indeed looked at how one can try to solve the problem with all the traffic queues that many experience around the crossing of the canal, regardless of whether it is southwards or northwards. But this is not a bottleneck issue but a critical total defense issue. It is about ensuring that there is a basis to be able to make decisions on a tunnel and not first start with adaptation measures when one should instead use the money for the infrastructure for a tunnel, which in the long term solves both traffic queue problems and security problems.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I would like to thank the member for the commitment.
This is an important issue. Robustness and redundancy around the capital are important. The member also points out several other strategically important infrastructure stretches and corridors. One could probably add a few more to that list.
What the Transport Administration has proposed is, just as I said and as the member referred to, a widening to enable an expansion from two to three lanes in each direction. These are measures that are judged to increase the capacity by around 30 percent.
I believe it is important to have a holistic perspective here. It is also a bottleneck issue, as it is today. I believe the member can agree on that. The companies that the member mentioned also highlight that. It is about accessibility for important freight transports, which are central to their important operations.
The meaning of saying that it is not only important for the two companies the member mentioned was in no way intended to downplay their importance for Swedish competitiveness and the needs of the total defense. The meaning was to broaden the issue to be about more than that, namely the accessibility in and around the Stockholm area and the accessibility and robustness of Sweden as a country.
When it comes to measures strictly driven by the needs of the military defense or the needs of the total defense, we have stated that they need to be taken in a specific order. There, we also have 50 billion kronor that are earmarked for measures in the civil defense. A significant part will go to transport infrastructure.
I do not think one should underestimate the importance of the directive that the government gave to Trafikverket – that the needs of the total defense must now also be included in the work with the national plan. Several of the measures being presented have an effect both in peacetime and in a situation of high alert. It is about maintenance work, about the BK4 network, which is being expanded, about reinvestments, and about various smart measures that allow for more capacity in the Swedish infrastructure. It is, of course, important both during civil crises and during high alert.
I also want to thank the member for the illustrative example of what we experienced in the summer of 2016. It puts its finger on the vulnerabilities in the Swedish infrastructure. It is clear that we could have been in a different position when we discuss the national plan if it had not been so, Mr. Speaker, that approximately half of the funds are already locked for maintenance and for catching up on neglected maintenance.
We are reaping the fruits of previous decisions or non-decisions. The maintenance of the Swedish infrastructure has not been addressed, so now we are in a situation where we need to catch up on maintenance. Had this been done in a different way, Mr. Speaker, there might have been even more room to discuss new investments. Now that room is limited; I believe we both agree on that.
Then, of course, one needs a good basis, as the member mentioned. It is about making assessments that are broader, where one also looks at what effect the different measures can have in a fairly short time. Previously, many of the investments have been far in the future. But we see that the needs for many companies are here and now and can also come frighteningly close from a total defense perspective. It is therefore important to get through as much as possible also in the short term.
With that, I would like to thank you for the commitment to this issue, Mr. Speaker.
Kerstin Lundgren (C)
Mr. Speaker! Yes, we usually mention that it is about a period of three or four years to equip Sweden to be able to meet a worse situation than what we have experienced in an incredibly long time. It is also important from that perspective that, within the strained economic framework that exists, the resources are used correctly and that it is ensured that there are gutters and not just downpipes.
It is one thing when the minister says that one should use the resources to implement adaptation measures and stop there. But if the picture is that one must secure the strategic crossing by building a tunnel, it is almost like throwing the money into the lake. In that case, it would be better to use them to make an investment in a tunnel and ensure that it is completed in the near term, so that we secure the total defense of the crossing not only when it concerns Mälaren but actually also when it concerns Södertälje canal.
Mr. Speaker! I therefore expect the Minister to instruct Trafikverket to prepare a proposal for a tunnel under Södertälje canal for E20 and E4, in order to meet the needs of Sweden and, in fact, also our neighbors from a total defense perspective.
With that, I would like to thank the Minister for this exchange.
Infrastruktur- och bostadsministern Andreas Carlson (KD)
Mr. Speaker! I will not anticipate the planning process we have. We are in the middle of the referral process, and I will await the referral responses. We will, of course, in parallel prepare proposals on the measures needed for the requirements of the total defense, for which we also, of course, have a basis, among other things from the Armed Forces.
I will not anticipate which decisions the government will make during the first half of next year. But even if we were to decide on a tunnel and it would become the tunnel built fastest ever in Sweden, I still believe that many will experience bottleneck problems for several years on the existing connection. These types of adjustments are therefore important to take into account against the background that the needs are great here and now and that it is overdue. It is also important against the background that in just five years a connection will open that can be expected to create even more pressure both north and south of Förbifarten. Trafikverket has now proposed widenings of the motorways both north and south of Förbifarten.
I believe it is important to include this. One cannot, as the member is pointing out, just look at one perspective. It is important not to forget the here and now, the adaptation perspective, and how we achieve increased accessibility and traffic safety in the existing infrastructure when the needs are so great. This will, of course, also be an important perspective to have with us in the continued work on our part.
With that, Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the member for the wise input provided in this debate and for the commitment to an important issue, not only for Södertälje but also for Sweden.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.