Sweden and Finland have finished the electrification of the Laurila – Tornio – Haparanda line. The line connects the two countries via rail in the far north, and its development is a supply security project for Finland. The project is bearing its first fruit for Finnish fans of Italian cuisine, as wine and pasta supplies may now be secured via rail.
For Finland, the electrification of the route is rather important, just in case something were to go wrong with maritime shipping in the Baltic Sea. “The changing security environment makes collaboration even more important. This project is an example of how we can improve forecasting and preparedness”, a Finnish supply expert commented on the electrification.
In total, 22 kilometres of rail in Finland have been electrified. On the Swedish side, a single kilometre underwent the upgrade. Besides the electrification, a number of other upgrades were carried out, such as an increase in height for the Torne river rail bridge. Works lasted from spring 2024 until January 2025.
Finland spent 30 million euros on the project, whereas Sweden spent a total of 7 million. The EU also contributed through the Connecting Europe Facility.
International rail freight growth
There has not been any freight traffic through the border town of Haparanda for years, write Finnish media. That has now changed, due to a concern that maritime transport in the Baltic Sea could be “disrupted for one reason or another.”
It is expected that rail freight traffic between Sweden and Finland will grow this year. A Swedish rail operator is already looking at the possibility of launching regular freight services from Italy to Haparanda, Finnish media write.
“Those trains will probably not transport cellulose or other forest industry products, but discussions are underway about transporting Italian wine, champagne, pasta and various construction and interior design products”, a representative of Finnish rail operator Nurminen Logistics said.
Less enthusiasm the other way around
Such a service would also facilitate a shift to rail for smaller and medium-sized Finnish companies, as individual pallets could be transported in freight wagons instead of sea containers.
When it comes to Finnish rail traffic towards Sweden, there is less enthusiasm from businesses. The country’s national rail operator, VR, says that it is not profitable. At the same time, the company investigated the possibility of starting regular container services from Helsinki up north, to Oulu. It would then also pick up containers from the border in Haparanda.
“We had the idea that around 150 containers per week could be such a reasonable volume that we could have a train that would run three times a week, for example. So far, such volumes have not been identified”, the company’s commercial director said.
Standard gauge connection
What would help boost Finnish rail connectivity to the rest of Europe even further is a standard gauge connection to Sweden, says the Finnish Confederation of Industry and Trade. The organisation proposes building a standard gauge railway next to existing infrastructure down south, to Oulu and further towards the town of Raahe.
The Nurminen Logistics representative also looks favourably at that idea: “Transport could be handled without intermediate loading, for example directly from Italy. It would open up a new transport route for export companies operating in, for example, Ostrobothnia, Kainuu and even Eastern Finland, in addition to Northern Finland.”
