Mooted: An Undersea Link From Finland To Estonia

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.

Comments

Precondition: Rail Baltic

[paavo512]

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).

Numbers

[goodmanj]

This tunnel would be roughly the same length and complexity as the English Channel Tunnel. The combined metro area of London and Paris is 26 million people; Talinn and Helsinki combined are less than 1/10th the size. If you're thinking more in terms of connecting all of Finland to all of Europe the way the Chunnel connects the whole UK to Europe, the population of Finland is again less than 1/10th the size of the UK.

The Chunnel has been in or on the edge of bankruptcy for most of its existence.

I'm not sure this is gonna work.

Re:Numbers

[dj245]

This tunnel would be roughly the same length and complexity as the English Channel Tunnel. The combined metro area of London and Paris is 26 million people; Talinn and Helsinki combined are less than 1/10th the size. If you're thinking more in terms of connecting all of Finland to all of Europe the way the Chunnel connects the whole UK to Europe, the population of Finland is again less than 1/10th the size of the UK.

The Chunnel has been in or on the edge of bankruptcy for most of its existence.

I'm not sure this is gonna work.

It is a classic mistake to measure the benefit of infrastructure on the basis of "does it pay for itself in ticket sales?". The benefit to society may be much larger than the direct income generated.

Re:Double your endowment with this reality pill!

[TWX]

That's why you have two budgets- one you tell the contractors about, and one that has enough money to deal with the cost-overruns.

It's like inviting people over. Some people are chronically late, while others are always too early. If you want everyone there at 7pm then you tell the late people to be there by 5:30pm, and the early people to be there by 7:30pm, and it all works out.