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      Super High Speed Main Manufacturers EU and the Railroading European Countries Austria Belgium Denmark Estonia > Finland > Infrastructure High Speed Classes and Types Organizations Operators & Owners VR-Yhtyma Junakalusto VR-Roster Junakalusto Roster HKL Info Russians in Finland History Tunneling the Gulf Finnish Picture Page "Chicken" Pics Page France Georgia Germany Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Russia Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom Other European North America Asia Australia Rest of the World         | 4rail.net - Reference - Finland - Infrastructure | |
 Finnish National Infrastructure and International Connections Finland has a relatively modest, if not backward, railroad infrastructure due to the long period of low investment rate into infrastructure and punishing winters which mean that the infra will need to be created much stronger for the climate than is necessary in much of the rest of the world. Even with the lack of money however, there is something under rebuilding or construction much of the time. Finnish railroad infrastructure has developed in the recent years especially with additions to 3 categories: 1) Upgrades and new track for High speed Rail 2) Helsinki Metropolitan area rail upgrades and additions to the network 3) Freight railroading additions and upgrades The money spent on infrastructure projects is minimal compared to any of the neighboring developed countries or Russia. The lack of money means heavy congestion on local traffic every_single_day at Helsinki station, falling down old train control systems without backup available and also discussion about closing down some of the networks with just minimal traffic. International connections of Finnish networks are inadequate due to the geography: to the south and to the west the connections are limited by seas, and only one ferry connection to Central Europe exists for the moment. Connections to the northwest to Sweden are poor since the neighbors don't share a common gauge, change between Finnish 1524mm (5 ft) and Swedish 1435mm (normal gauge, 4' 8,5") would be necessary when crossing deeper into Sweden from the immediate border area in Haaparanta. Existing connections are only available to the east to Russia. The crossing for freight is available in Imatra and Vainikkala and Vainikkala also serves the international passenger traffic. There has also been real discussion on building a tunnel to Estonia and Sweden. These tunnels would create an overwhelming competitive edge with its normal gauge and direct connection to the Central Europe with a bridge + tunnel. A similar project in Southern Sweden in Malmö area proved to be an enormous success once completed 10 years ago.  Picture: One of the numerous high capacity ferries enabling the connection from Finland to rest of the Europe is this Tallink Super Fast Ferry carrying cars and passengers from the Finnish southern coast in 24 hours to German north coast. other main connections are between Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia (the suggested route for the tunnel) and Helsinki/Turku to Stockholm, Sweden.  To the top of the page
Finnish National Infrastructure Projects and Plans There are several smaller ongoing projects:
Largest project in the recent years was the new high speed track between kerava and Lahti (easing connections between Helsinki and Lahti and to east of Finland as well as St Petersburg in Russia). The following projects have been recently completed:
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Helsinki Metropolitan Area Projects  The largest of the currently ongoing Helsinki Metropolitan area projects is the "Ring Track" connecting the center of Helsinki with the Helsinki Airport. This will affect the commuting and travelling of around 100'000 people daily. The new track will also enable building of much needed new suburbs around Helsinki and connect the existing "Main track" (north-south) and Vantaankoski (northwest of Helsinki) track creating a large "ring", thus the name. This project will be finished in 2014 or 2015. Another important project under way extends the Helsinki 5ft gauge Metro west to Espoo and is due to be finished in 2015-2016. The building was started in mid 2010 as the smoke clouds occasionally floating in the tunnel signified. Again new living areas and good connection to the congested southern part of the city of Espoo will be created. Helsinki area future projects
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International: Helsinki - Tallinn Railroad Tunnel The tunnel to connect the cities of Helsinki and Tallinn has long been in the thoughts and the target of studies on both sides. While there are fair connections by boat between the cities, these connections are _slow_ compared to the land connections, since the cities are located some 82 kilometers apart. The rock foundation for the planned tunnel would most likely be of solid granite, relatively easy to build and extremely long lasting. The cost of building is estimated to be between 5 and 6 billion euros, so it might be difficult to make the tunnel economically profitable in the short run and the E.U. support will be needed. Given some time it is sure that the tunnel will be both economically sound and seen as historical turning point with connecting Finland with the rest of the Central and Western Europe (practical connections are now mainly by sea or air).  Picture: Tunnel works for the Kehärata progress under Helsinki-Vantaa airport. There have been several other longer tunnels in Finland as well, so the technology for any magnitude of project already exists. Picture by Stanislav Voronin. With the Helsinki - Tallinn tunnel Helsinki - Berlin on the fast train connection on the Rail Baltica would only take 5-12 hours (including the gauge change on the Lithuanian - Polish border or Tallinn). This would bring the less energy consuming rail travel within the boundaries of challenging the air travel and with overnight connections to cities like Frankfort, Strasbourg, London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Munich, Wien, Zurich, Basel, Milan, ... There has been strong support first from Baltirail society originally headed by the retired director of the City of Helsinki Martti Asunmaa and recently by the mayors of the two cities, on the Finnish side by Jussi Pajunen. The first target is to raise 0,8 million euros to research the further options on the tunnel link. The ongoing economical depression and the slow return of economic activity after that have stopped further considerations for a while, but in 5-10 years this subject is sure to emerge again. Anyway, to further merge Finland to the EU the tunnel will be needed, sooner or later, hopefully mostly with the EU funding. It only seems unfair, that projects in Italy or Spain get 70% EU funding while many North European projects only get 10-20% EU funding! Are the North Europeaners so poor negotiators compared with the talkative Italians or Spanish? 
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 Finnish reference main page
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Created for 4rail.net by John McKey. Pictures by Hannu Luukannel, Hannu Peltola, Ilkka Siissalo, Sanna Siissalo, Stanislav Voronin and John McKey.  See also these pages!  Finnish Railroads Main Page, a great place to start browsing this section.  Finnish railroad organizations and railroad operators have their own pages, as well as the largest operator VR-Yhtyma and a newcomer to the field Junakalusto.  While much of the passenger traffic concentrates around the capital Helsinki, you might be interested in the roster pictures of VR-Yhtyma, Junakalusto and the city of Helsinki operator HKL. HKL operates the metro, buses and narrow gauge trams.   You might also like to see the Finnish Rolling Stock Classes Page or the Rolling Stock Heritage Classes Page!   The Finnish Infrastructure Page gives you details on the railroad projects of past, present and the future. Finnish Railroad History Page describes the beginnings of Finnish railroading.  Finnish location is quite challenging for the railroading, the European Union Railroading Page and the Rail Baltica Page shed light to this subject.  Russians in Finland Page brings you some of the exotic Russian models, many still dating back to the Soviet period.  Last but not least, Take a virtual tour with a Finnish heritage locomotive Vr1 / "Chicken". This story was brought to 4rail.net by Hannu Peltola. | |
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