The civil Initiative Stop the HH connection asks the Danish Minister and the Transport Committee to block any plans for the proposed two tunnels between Denmark and Sweden.

The proposed fixed HH connection would consist of two separate tunnels. One for the railway traffic and another one for the road traffic. Each tunnel would have two bored tubes. Other than passenger and freight transportation, the tunnels can also be used for transmission of electricity and district heating.

Stop the HH Connection's position is this:

Citizens' resistance to the HH connection is evolving. Citizens from Espergærde, Snekkersten and Helsingør have joined forces to establish the Citizens' Initiative Stop the HH connection, which works to bury the HH project. The citizens' initiative has become necessary after the Danish Road Directorate's and the Swedish Transport Administration's publication of Strategic Analysis of a Fixed Link between Elsinore and Helsingborg. “The outlined tunnel connection between Helsingborg and Helsingør is an environmental disaster for large parts of Helsingør Municipality. We anticipate the loss of significant natural values ​​both in the protected Rørtang wedge, Egebæksvang forest and in the Sound. We fear that the city of Elsinore will end up as an appendix, where trade will go into permanent Corona hibernation. Helsingørmotorvejen and Kystbanen will be loaded every day with 6,000 / 8,000 extra vehicles / passengers, which is not at all offset by the gain of 2,000 fewer vehicles on Kongevejen in Elsinore. Approx. 60 properties must be expropriated, and the 8-10 year long construction period will be devastating for our lovely cities ", says spokesman Peter Pejtersen and continues: "Financially, this is a huge misinvestment of DKK 42 billion (23 for the road connection plus 19 for the railway connection). As with other user-financed infrastructure projects, it is assumed that the road and rail connection must be repaid within 40 years of opening. It's just not possible. For this, a subsidy of DKK 14 billion is required! And then the loss of income on the Øresund Bridge is a little over half a billion kroner per. years due to the transfer of traffic from the Øresund Bridge to the HH connection have not been included in the Danish Road Directorate's calculation at all! If you do, it obviously looks even worse, and the construction of the road connection alone will not pay off either. The proposed HH connection moves traffic and CO2 pollution from Sweden to the Helsingør motorway / Coastal line. And even though we like the Swedes a lot, we believe that the Swedish traffic problems should be solved in Sweden, ”concludes Peter Pejtersen. The citizens' initiative Stop the HH connection gives citizens a voice that is independent of interest groups for hauliers, business organizations, railway companies, ferry companies and political parties.

On 11 March they have written to the Danish Minister of Transport:

Fixed connection Helsingør-Helsingborg

The Danish Road Directorate's new reports on “Strategic analysis of a fixed link between Elsinore and Helsingborg” have caused great concern among many citizens and given rise to the Citizens' Initiative Stop HH connection.

The analysis includes the construction of a motorway tunnel south of Helsingør and Helsingborg and the construction of a railway tunnel between Helsingør Station and Helsingborg Station.

We must ask the Minister of Transport to put the fixed HH connection in the grave. We ask that the Government and the Folketing fail to spend time and resources on continued investigations, which will create insecurity and fear about the future for citizens in Elsinore, Snekkersten and Espergærde.

Motorway tunnel for DKK 23 billion.

The motorway tunnel project will mean an unacceptably violent intervention with enormous excavations through the protected Rørtang wedge close to residential areas in Snekkersten and Espergærde.

But we fear it could get even worse. As far as we know, drilling has never before been carried out deep under the seabed with such a large diameter as is required for a motorway project. And the geologically very complicated conditions under the Sound will not make it easier.

Therefore, it can very easily end up that instead of drilled tunnels, one chooses to implement the immersed tunnel alternative mentioned in the report. This will involve kilometers of excavation all the way to the Øresund coast through the forest Egebæksvang and properties on both sides of Strandvejen.

In addition, the destruction of the Øresund's unique benthic fauna in connection with the excavation of a deep and wide channel in the seabed across the Øresund from to the coast, in which the immersed tunnel is to be located.

Railway tunnel to NOK 19 billion.

The railway tunnel project in Elsinore is at least as unacceptable as the motorway project. Establishing the runway tunnel will transform neat residential neighborhoods into something resembling a

meteor crater. 60 (sixty!) Properties must be removed so that the Coastal Railway can be led deep into the ground to a new Elsinore underground railway station 30 (thirty!) Meters below the earth's surface. The 8-10 year long construction period will be bad for the residents in the remaining houses, and without trains between Snekkersten and Helsingør.

Much more long-distance traffic along the metropolitan area It was once decided that the fixed link between Denmark and Sweden should be Copenhagen-Malmö. So we got one like this in the "Øresund Bridge", and there is still plenty of room for more cars and trains. Today, only a small proportion of road users choose to drive north all the way along the metropolitan area to Elsinore to use the ferries to Helsingborg.

Construction of a fixed link between Elsinore and Helsingborg will make many motorists choose this over the "Øresund Bridge". This means less traffic in Sweden between Malmö and Helsingborg and more traffic in Denmark between Copenhagen and Elsinore.

According to the Danish Road Directorate's report, additional traffic will not require expansion of the road network. But it may be necessary in the long run. This may mean reviving the old plans for the construction of an outer ring road B5, which will lead to further fragmentation of beautiful partially protected landscapes in North Zealand to the detriment of biodiversity and recreational qualities.

Deficit business

According to the Danish Road Directorate's reports, like other user-financed infrastructure projects, it is assumed that the road and rail connection must be repaid within 40 years of opening. But that is not possible.

The Danish Road Directorate states that the road connection with user payment will have generated a profit after 40 years of DKK 2 billion. The road connection will therefore alone result in a deficit of DKK 14 billion.

After 40 years, the railway connection will - with set-off of ticket revenue, etc. - cost an additional DKK 14 billion.

Poor economy

For the combined road and rail project, the Danish Road Directorate has calculated an internal interest rate of 2.9 per cent. This means that the project is not socio-economically profitable. This requires an internal interest rate of at least 3.5 per cent.

On the other hand, the Danish Road Directorate states that it will be socio-economically profitable to build the road connection alone, as an internal interest rate of 5.0 per cent has been calculated for this. But if you take into account the loss of income from the transfer of car traffic from the "Øresund Bridge", the internal interest rate will be significantly lower. And the same, of course, applies to the combined road and rail project.

In addition, it appears from the above that the railway project in isolation is far from being socio-economically profitable, and according to the Danish Road Directorate's report, it will also result in a blatant deficit.

Conclusion

The strategic analysis carried out by the Danish Road Directorate, the Danish Transport, Building and Housing Agency and the Swedish Transport Administration clearly shows that it would be unwise to use of the earth's increasingly limited resources, emit enormous amounts of CO2, topple a lot of houses in Elsinore, dig huge and very deep holes in protected areas and drill loose with monster-sized drills in difficult geology deep beneath the ocean floor to establish some socio-economically unprofitable , loss-making traffic facilities. A copy of this letter has been sent to the Folketing's Transport Committee.

Sincerely Citizens' Initiative Stop the HH connection v / Peter Pejtersen, Espergærde

http://www.stophh.dk/pressemeddelse

The map: Fixed HH Link (marked with circle) environs. It is from Region Skåne press release supplements