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Mooted: An Undersea Link From Finland To Estonia

Posted by timothy on from the to-send-along-massages-from-sweden dept.

jones_supa writes A train link between Finland and continental Europe could become a reality 15 or 20 years from now. A study carried out by Sweco Consulting recommends moving ahead with negotiations on building a railway tunnel between the capital cities Helsinki and Tallinn. According to a preliminary report out Wednesday, an undersea link would shorten the travel time between the two capitals from the current minimum 90 minutes by ship to around 30 minutes by rail. Estimated ticket cost is about 40 euros. The study, commissioned by the two cities, estimates that the undersea route could be completed after 2030 and would cost somewhere between 9 and 13 billion euros.

2 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Precondition: Rail Baltic by paavo512 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Missing from the summary: this project does not make sense without proper railway connection from Tallinn to central Europe (this is Rail Baltic, about to be started in "near" future and expected to be ready around 2025).

  2. Re:Why were the chunnel building machines buried? by DerekLyons · · Score: 3, Informative

    That's one thing I've always been mystified at --- when the English Channel tunnel was finished the machines were run a bit further and entombed --- why weren't they run up to the surface and put up for use on other projects?

    Because machine lines the tunnel behind it as it drills and moves forward, and because construction continues behind it... meaning they couldn't be "just run forward" as the tunnel ahead was larger than the machine. So they either have to be entombed (as the British did) or dismantled and scrapped (as the French did). Most large TBM's are also custom built, so there's little resale or reuse value to begin with.