Connecting the corridor
Infrastructure &
Connectivity
Connecting the corridor for sustainable growth and resilience.
One corridor.
Shared opportunities.
Infrastructure is the backbone of STRING’s cooperation. Reliable cross-border connections support integrated markets, sustainable growth, labour mobility and resilience across the Hamburg–Oslo corridor.
STRING takes a whole-corridor perspective: rail, road, ports, charging infrastructure, alternative fuels and energy connections must reinforce one another. We support a stronger shift from road to rail for passengers and freight, alongside infrastructure that meets civilian needs and military mobility requirements.
Four shared priorities
Long-term infrastructure priorities that connect our megaregion.
Fehmarn Belt &
hinterland connections
Connecting infrastructure that helps the fixed link deliver its full benefits.
STRING’s focus
STRING works to ensure that the fixed link’s benefits are supported by efficient connecting infrastructure. Capacity and reliable hinterland connections are essential to closer economic and labour-market integration.
The Hamburg
node
Addressing a critical capacity constraint between Northern and Central Europe.
STRING’s focus
Hamburg connects Northern and Central Europe and serves passenger, freight and port traffic. Addressing capacity constraints at this node is essential to the performance of the wider corridor.
Fixed links across
the Öresund Belt
Advancing proposed connections that strengthen mobility and redundancy.
STRING’s focus
STRING supports an Öresund metro between Copenhagen and Malmö as a long-term capacity solution and works to advance planning and political support for a Helsingør–Helsingborg tunnel. These proposed links could strengthen mobility, regional cohesion and transport redundancy.
Gothenburg–Oslo
dual-track railway
More capacity and reliability for passengers and freight between Sweden and Norway.
STRING’s focus
STRING supports upgrading the existing railway to double track, with long-term potential for high-speed rail. Greater capacity and reliability can improve rail’s competitiveness for passengers and freight and strengthen links between Sweden and Norway.
All four initiatives are shared long-term priorities. STRING’s engagement may vary with project maturity, political momentum and opportunities to advance them.
Low-emission connections
Charging, alternative fuels, ports and energy connections as one system.
The SEALS Project
The SEALS Project contributes to the electrification of logistics, translating cross-border cooperation into practical action for low-emission transport.
H2ignite
H2ignite develops business models and policy approaches for hydrogen in transport, bringing public and private partners together across borders to support low-emission mobility.
SWECO / November 2025
Rail freight with the
Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link
Better connections.
Backed by evidence.
SWECO’s assessment identifies 15 rail-freight bottlenecks within and adjacent to the northern Scandinavian–Mediterranean corridor. Its central finding: the Fehmarn Belt Fixed Link’s full benefits depend on improvements across the wider network.
Constraints on tracks, terminals, train lengths and signalling affect reliability, journey times, costs and the availability of freight services. Without coordinated action, the opportunity to shift more freight from road to rail risks being missed.
Commissioned by STRING and Greater Copenhagen. Published 27 November 2025.
View bottleneck map
What the analysis means for the corridor
- Connect the whole network. Rail access to the Fehmarn Belt, the Hamburg node and terminals, capacity in southern Sweden and Gothenburg, and the Gothenburg–Oslo connection must work together.
- Make rail easier to operate across borders. Longer freight trains and coordinated deployment of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) can strengthen capacity, efficiency and interoperability.
- Coordinate planning and delivery. SWECO calls for stronger cross-border political dialogue, faster planning and consideration of more effective implementation and financing methods.
- Strengthen resilience across transport modes. Rail, ports, maritime alternatives and low-emission road transport form a connected system, supporting reliable supply chains and civilian and military mobility.
SWECO’s recommendations are the consultancy’s analysis and do not necessarily represent the positions of STRING, Greater Copenhagen or their members.