COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS DETERMINES UNFEASIBILITY OF FINNISH TEN-T CONVERSION
The Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications has recently published a report on the opportunities provided by the introduction of the standard European track gauge in the country. The report determined that the cost of transitioning the entire Finnish TEN-T network from narrow gauge to the standard European gauge is too high, and the benefits would not be significant.
The discussion around transitioning to the European standard railway gauge began when the Commission proposed that all new TEN-T railway lines should be built with a standard gauge, which Finland fiercely opposed it. All TEN-T countries were then required to conduct a cost-benefit analysis of the transition and decide whether they would proceed with the proposal. For Finland, building all new TEN-T lines with a 1,435 mm gauge has been considered by the report not a feasible scenario, also emphasising that the country should be free to decide and continue using the broad-gauge line.
As an alternative, the Ministry proposed the construction of a new standard gauge mainline connecting Helsinki with Tornio on the border with Sweden. The line will run alongside the existing broad-gauge line and will link directly to the Swedish railway network without any changes. This will cross the country from south to north and connect important economic centres for both freight and passenger traffic.
Source: RailFreight.com, Ministry of Transport and Communication of Finland