The Bothnian Corridor collaboration

Since more than 20 years, politicians, regional stakeholders, industry and national authorities have collaborated to improve the transport infrastructure along the so called Bothnian Corridor enabling the ongoing industrial growth in northern Scandinavia. The Bothnian Corridor has been acknowledged in both Sweden and Finland as the core north-south railway infrastructure at both sides of the Bothnian Gulf. In recent years the emphasis of the collaboration has been more and more focused on the development of the most environmentally friendly modes of transports such as railway and ports, but also on increasing the availability of alternative fuels for road transports.

The collaboration The Botanical Corridor is a joint endeavor between seven regions (Norrbotten, Västerbotten, Västernorrland, Jämtland, Dalarna, Gävleborg and Örebro), which together constitute two thirds of Sweden’s total surface. The purpose of the collaboration is to strengthen the transport infrastructure and improve the connections between northern Sweden and the rest of Europe, and to link northern Scandinavia, by drawing up a joint proposal on how the infrastructure can be expanded.

What do we do?

For many years, the focus of the Bothnian Corridor has been the development of the railway infrastructure, even though the corridor involves all modes of transport. The heavy industries in northern Sweden depend on functional transport systems in the corridor, with all modes of transport: railways, roads, sea transports and air.

The collaboration urges for increased national and European investments in the infrastructure to complete the Bothnian Corridor. We do this by describing and prioritizing the investments needed and its benefits for the people, regions, member states and the EU a whole.

The organisation

The Steering Group includes leading political representatives for the seven regions that are part of the cooperation. There is also a working group with civil servants from the different regions, as well as a secretariat. Representatives of the Norrbotniabanan and the Nya Ostkustbanan, as well as our EU offices North Sweden and Central Sweden, also participate in the work.