SSAB's RD® pile wall helps to solve the logistics problems of the Port of Gothenburg

Today, Hamnbanan is a single-track railway almost 10 kilometers long, with 70 trains a day to and away from the Harbor. When the project is finished, it will be increased to around 110 trains per day. This will make it possible to transfer a lot of road transport to rails. This benefits the environment and also reduces congestion on the roads. One freight train can replace 30 trucks. That’s one of the reasons for the expansion of the Hamnbanan with double tracks. To make traffic also safer and little quieter, new tracks will be installed mostly to a tunnel between Eriksberg and Pölsebo. This frees up land for apartments. Construction of the Eriksberg-Pölsebo section began in 2020. The section will be opened to train traffic in 2023.

The contractor for the project is Skanska Sverige Ab. SSAB has delivered RD220x12.5 piles and RD pile wall with pile size RD320x12.5. The steel grade for both was S460MH. The total quantity of piles  has been around 13 000 m. Deliveries started in autumn 2021. The piles of RD pile wall were delivered as 12 + 6 meter long elements, which were welded together on site to create a 18 meter high RD pile wall.

Skanska chose the SSAB RD® pile wall for the project because they had heard good reviews  about the RD pile wall and customer wanted a reliable, and sustainable solution. Pile wall consists of drilled RD piles that are connected together by welded-on connectors, creating a continuous pipe pile wall that works well with horizontal and vertical loads. RD pile wall is both fast and reliable to install and it also has excellent water tightness.

“SSAB have been very helpful in the flexibility of deliveries, and to secure the flow in the project”, says Oscar Paulsson, Project Engineer at Skanska Sverige AB. He also mentions that the help before making the order with drawings made them feel comfortable to purchase the piles from SSAB.