| 
| 
Helsinki - Tallinn Tunnel: Regional council to vote on competing visions
Uusimaa Regional Council in Finland will be working on the route of the future Helsinki - Tallinn railway.
Basically the discussion is over the route of the tunnel on the Finnish side. The Finest consortium (a private one lead by Finnish high-tech entrepreneur Peter Vesterbacka) proposes a tunnel which connects the Tallinn and Helsinki airports via Espoo. Local authorities, on the other hand, want the tunnel first arrive at Helsinki's Central Station and then stop at Pasila station before reaching the Helsinki airtport in Vantaa.
There are additional issues which further complicate the final decision like gauge sizes, multiple competing tunnels, tunnel depths, Chinese involvement etc etc.
Most of these are already very well covered in the following article. Even better, it is in English:
Hello Paul,
Although I am not in Finland these days, I have been trying to follow the news over the Talsinki tunnel. The discussing is getting hotter.
You might say it is even getting confrontational when you read Helsingin Uutiset's quoting of Vesterbacka ( Finest Bay Area Development Oy - FBAD): "If the tunnel is not made the way Helsinki wants, then it will not be made at all. This seems to be Helsinki's way of doing things".
Do not forget that FBAD is also the one financing any Talinski tunnel.
I think they have a point in saying that it is a waste of money to build two parallel running tunnels from Helsinki to the airport. You know, there is already the 5.5 Billion Euro Lentorata rail tunnel project plans between Helsinki and the Airport. What is the point of having another parallel running tunnel? And comically, these two tunnel railways will have different rail gauges. Talinski tunnel will have European gauge (1,435 mm) unlike the Lentorata (1,524 mm). What is the point?
Obviously Espoo is also upset with the Helsinki persistence on Helsinki route.
Do not forget that Helsinki occupies 26 seats in the Uusimaa Regional Council's 80 members. Practically Helsinki dominates the council.
https://www.helsinginuutiset.fi/paikalliset/1986023852_A
The Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council voted to route the tunnel under Helsinki rather than via Espoo.
Vesterbacka is talking about this decision causing up to a 7 year delay to the project.
cover tunnel photo by: Matt Brown from London, England / CC BY
.jpg){kind=link}
Copyright 2019-2024 TunnelContact.com
https://newsnowfinland.fi/news-now-original/competing-tallinn-tunnel-visions-head-for-regional-council-vote
Competing Tallinn tunnel visions head for regional council vote
newsnowfinland.fiUusimaa Regional Council's board is championing just one possible Tallinn tunnel route through the centre of Helsinki - but private developers say they need to consider all options fully.