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VR Class Dv12 locomotive (no. 2504) with Kemijärvi–Helsinki train in Kemijärvi, in Finnish Lapland. Photo:HenrikJ
Finnish rail connection to the Arctic Sea considered
Published: Mon, 2014-12-01 15:25-
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Would six-fold the capacity
Finland has one third of its territory inside the Arctic Circle, but is the only Nordic country short of any seaport by the Arctic Sea.
Prospects of seafaring courses have triggered long-term consideration of how to establish rail connections to the Arctic Sea further north beyond the Norwegian border.
The main idea so far has been to build tracks from the western part of Finnish Lapland via Sweden and Norway.
A connection via Russia remains a less likely option, but it became slightly more feasible on Tuesday when the Finnish government chose to support railroad links to a potential mine in Eastern Lapland near the Russian border.
So far, tracks towards the Artic Sea only reach the Western Lapland mining town of Kolari.
Development of rail connections in Eastern Lapland moved forward on Tuesday as the government preferred rail links over road transit in arranging services for a mining project at Sokli in the east.
The owners of the potential phosphate mines, in northern Norway, have set public transport input as a condition for the project. The investment would extend Finnish heavy duty rail tracks to just 60 km away from the Russian border.
Improving the rails on the Russian side to facilitate transport to the port of Murmansk could be an investment between 700 million euros to 1 billion euros (1.25 billion U.S. dollars).
Fennia Rails, the chief competitor of the state-owned VR in the domestic rail freight sector, announced on Tuesday that its engines would be operational next year.
Based on an older agreement, however, state railroads have the sole right to cross-border operations between Russia and Finland. Possibilities of changing the agreement have been discussed between the states.
On the passenger service side, VR still has a monopoly in Finland, but the market could open earlier than planned. In long haul passenger services, VR's monopoly extends until 2024.
Source. VR & Xinghua
Av Markku Björkman
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