Finland is preparing a railway revolution. End with Russian rail spacing

All railway routes in Finland should have a European rail spacing, not just Rail Nordica planned for Sweden. Finland cannot remain a zone in which the legacy of Russia is still used – said the minister of transport Lulu wounded.

“Do we want to stay in Russia forever? – said the Finnish minister at a conference in Helsinki, where on Tuesday a two -day meeting of the heads of transport departments of Nordic countries began.

During the event, the Rail Nordica project was discussed, i.e. the construction of a new railway line in the north of Finland to Sweden. The goal is, among others Ensuring the security of deliveries and military mobility between countries. In April, the Finnish government decided to allocate EUR 20 million for preliminary planning of this railway route built according to European standards. The cost of the entire investment is estimated at billions of euros.

Currently, cross -border rail traffic is not possible because on the Finnish side of railway rail spacing (1524 mm), dating from the 19th century (when Finnish territory was part of the Russian Empire) is nearly 89 mm wider than European (1435 mm) and similar to the Russian (1520 mm).

The aim of the project is to run a railway line on the Botnica Bay, connecting Finnish Oulu, Rovaniemi and a port in Kemi with the Swedish Haparand on the border river Torne, and from there to the mining center in Kiruna and then to the Norwegian port in Narew. The investment – emphasizes the authorities – is important from the point of view of the Finnish armed forces and NATO. In Lapland in the Rovaniem region there is a military base and a training ground.

During the meeting in Helsinki, the ministers of the transport of Nordic states issued a joint statement, stating that “military mobility, civil readiness and security of deliveries are of great importance in the context of the development of a common strategy on transport systems by countries.”

According to the minister, the construction of the railway line according to European standards and including it in the trans-European railway network program (TEN-T) cannot be limited only to midnight Finland, but it should also cover the southern part of the country, the more that-as she emphasized-in the Baltic countries Rail Baltica (Railway Route of High speeds from Estonian Tallinn through Riga to the Polish border) is created according to European standards.

The analysis prepared in 2023 by the Ministry of Transport shows that the reconstruction of all railway lines in Finland to the European rail spacing (1435 mm) would bring “more damage than good”, and the costs of the project would be “too high”.

The total length of the railway network in Finland is almost 6,000. km, of which more than half is electrified.

pmo/ san/