All news

Study on the Arctic rail line completed: Kirkenes routing to be examined further

Published 9.3.2018

The Ministry of Transport and Communications has decided that a railway routing to the Arctic Ocean via Oulu, Rovaniemi and Kirkenes is the one that will be examined further. The benefits of the route are that it would improve Finland's logistical position, accessibility and security of supply. Of the two leading alternatives, the routing via Kirkenes was also less expensive.

Last July the Finnish Ministry of Transport and Communications commissioned the Transport Agency to carry out a study on the Arctic rail line together with the Norwegian transport authorities. The Transport Agency assessed the implementation and financial feasibility of five different routing alternatives.

“All the alternatives are technically feasible. However, there was a lot of variation in terms of financial aspects and environmental impacts,” says Director Matti Levomäki from the Transport Agency.

The examined routing alternatives were Tornio-Narvik, Kolari-Narvik, Kolari-Tromsø, Rovaniemi-Kirkenes and Kemijärvi-Alakurtti-Murmansk. One alternative based on the use of High Capacity Transport vehicles was also examined.

Ministry of Transport and Communications Press Release

Reports and other resources

In English:

Finnish Transport Agency: Arctic Ocean Railway Report

Norconsult: Arctic Railway Report

Matti Levomäki's presentation

Map of different options

In Finnish:

Liikennevirasto: Jäämeren rataselvitys

Sitowise: Jäämeren radan linjausselvitys

Ramboll: Jäämeren ratayhteyden kysyntäpotentiaalin ja vaikutusten arviointi


This is an old article. It may contain deprecated information and the links may not work. Our publications can be found in the Doria publication archive

All news