Infrastructure Porn!

Citybanan Open House, a set on Flickr.

Here in Sweden, major transit and infrastructure projects are managed by the Swedish Transport Administration, Trafikverket. In their own words;"The Swedish Transport Administration is responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of all state owned roads and railways. We also develop long-term plans for the transport system on road, railway, sea and flight."

What this means is that regardless of what city or municipality, they run the show. Because of this it seems that infrastructure ACTUALLY IS BUILT AND MAINTAINED. Wow, what a concept! One of the projects currently under way is to relive some of the traffic on the two railway tracks that run out of Central Stockholm, moving South. Currently all traffic running South must use these 2 tracks, including commuter rail. The Citybanan will shift the commuter rail traffic off of these two older tracks allowing for increased inter-city rail traffic.

Though the track will be only 6km long, it is all underground. Today Trafikverket held an Open House and invited the public to come tour parts of the tunnel as well as see the sections of the "underwater bridge" that were sunk over the summer and connected in order to cross the body of water Riddarfjärden. We could see them but not get to them, though it was pretty cool as I had watched two of the sections be submerged over the summer.

I'm stoked that I got to see this. I wish North American would do things like the open house events we have been to here in Sweden. It gives taxpayers a better idea of what is being done, how it is done and what their tax dollars are being used for.

Anyway here is a link to the pics I took today. Enjoy!

The Swedish Quidditch Cup....Sorta

So, today we went to see a match of the Swedish Quidditch Cup that is being held here in the Stockholm area. We expected it to be odd, and probably funny to watch, but sadly it was...well....boring. 


Now knowing darn well that a fictional sporting event involving flying brooms and magic brought to life are sure to be a lesser event then what one sees on the screen in a "Harry Potter" film, my expectations were low. That being said there weren't even brooms. I at least expected little brooms they might ride like a hobby horse to at least keep in the spirit if things, but no. It was more of a keep-away/dodgeball thingy. The only thing creative was the Snitch. As most people know there are 3 types of balls; The Quaffle (1), the Bludgers (2) and the much coveted Snitch. 


The Snitch turned out to be a pert blonde with a punkish haircut, and a little gold outfit. Within the last minutes of the match she starts to run. Kind of around the pitch with the Seekers chasing her and they must pull off of her a black flag of some sort to "capture the Snitch." All in all it was about 30 minutes of us complaining on how wrong it was. Ah well. It was still a lovely day in the sun. Here are a few pictures for your enjoyment.