BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk// X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:A History of Non-Sustainable Integration: High-Speed Rail\, Europe anisation\, and the Failure of the "\;Nordic Triangle"\;\, 1985-20 05 - Andreas Mørkved Hellenes\, Chalmers University of Technology/Clare H all DTSTART:20240604T161500Z DTEND:20240604T171500Z UID:TALK216187@talks.cam.ac.uk CONTACT:Dr AM Price DESCRIPTION:The stated ambition for Nordic co-operation today is for the N ordic Region to be “the most integrated and sustainable region in the wo rld”. While integration is a fact\, the same cannot be said for sustaina bility: the air routes between Oslo\, Stockholm and Copenhagen are among t he busiest in Europe. In the 1990s\, however\, there were visions\, projec t plans and even a realised attempt to prioritise rail links between the c apitals in the so-called 'Nordic triangle'. Inspiration came from Europe\, where new infrastructure was being developed and state-owned railway comp anies had created subsidiaries for cross-border traffic. Most prominently\ , the Eurotunnel allowed for high-speed trains from the centre of London t o Brussels and Paris. With the Öresund Bridge\, an opportunity was at han d to do something similar in the Nordic region. But why were the Scandinav ian plans derailed?\n\nIn this talk I present findings from a research pro ject that studies the failure to create a sustainable integration of Scand inavia through the history of the rise and fall of the Nordic triangle. Dr awing on source material ranging from train companies to lobbying organisa tions\, I examine the tense relationship between ideas of ecological moder nisation and local environmental concerns. Furthermore\, I analyse how the vision of a new railway was transformed into an EU project by politicians and experts in the early 1990s. In particular\, the talk focuses on the a ttempt to create a Scandinavian market for high-speed rail traffic through the creation of the Swedish-Norwegian company Linx AB in 2000. In a time of renewed interest in European railways\, the project sheds light on tran sport and business in Nordic cooperation\, places the history of Scandinav ian mobility in a perspective of Europeanisation\, and analyses the transf ormation of public railways into market actors.\n LOCATION:The Ramsden Room\, St Catharine's College END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR