The Helsinki–Turku high-speed railway or Espoo–Salo-oikorata (Espoo–Salo direct line), also formerly known as the ELSA-rata (Espoo-Lohja-Salo), is a proposed railway line in the planning stage to provide a more direct connection between

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

and

Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

than the current

Rantarata Rantarata (the Coastal Railway, Swedish: Kustbanan), is a railway running between Helsinki Central Station and Turku Central Station in Finland. Its first segment, linking Turku to Karis, was commissioned in 1895, and work began the following ...

railway line which follows the southern coast. The project is also known as Turun tunnin juna (Turku one hour train), despite the fact that a journey between Helsinki and Turku on the new line would last about one hour and 18 minutes.

History

The first examination of a direct rail link between

Espoo Espoo (, ; ) is a city in Finland. It is located to the west of the capital, Helsinki, in southern Uusimaa. The population is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. Espoo is part of the Helsi ...

and

Salo Salo or Salò may refer to: Places Finland *Salo, Finland, a town in Western Finland **Salo sub-region, a subdivision of Finland Proper and one of the Sub-regions of Finland since 2009 *An old name of Saloinen, a former municipality in Ostroboth ...

took place in 1979. The current plans for the new railway line involve destruction of the homes for hundreds of people since it would go right through housing areas. The construction of of track between

and

with maximum running speeds of , allowing for a journey time of an hour and 18 minutes between

and

compared to the current one hour and 54 minutes. In 2017, the Finnish government provided €10 million in funding towards the planning and construction of the line, with half of this being eligible for

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

TEN-T funding. In April 2018, the Finnish Transport Agency awarded planning contracts for the line to three consultants: for the Espoo to Lohja section of track,

Pöyry Pöyry PLC (), which merged in 2019 with Swedish company ÅF into AFRY, was an international consulting and engineering firm that served clients globally across the energy and industrial sectors and provided local engineering services in its co ...

for the Lohja to Suomusjärvi section, and

Ramboll Rambøll Group A/S, also known as "Ramboll", is a Danish multinational architecture, engineering, and consulting company. In the past 25 years, the company has expanded from being a business mainly focused on the Nordic region, to having offices ...

for the Suomusjärvi to Salo section. After the

2019 Finnish parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Finland on 14 April 2019. For the first time, no party received more than 20% of the vote. The Centre Party, which had been the largest party following the 2015 Finnish parliamentary election, 2015 elections, ...

, new

Prime Minister of Finland The prime minister of Finland (; ) is the leader of the Finnish Government. The prime minister and his or her cabinet exercise executive authority in the state. The prime minister is formally ranked third in the protocol after the president ...

Antti Rinne Antti Juhani Rinne (; born 3 November 1962) is a Finnish politician who served as speaker of the Parliament of Finland from April to June 2019 and Prime Minister of Finland from June to December 2019. He led the Social Democratic Party from 2 ...

's government confirmed its commitment to advancing the three planned Finnish high-speed rail lines: the ELSA-rata, a Helsinki-

Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakeland. The population of Tampere is approximately , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately . It is the most populous mu ...

line, and the Itärata line from Helsinki to Eastern Finland. In September 2019, the

Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment (TEM, , ) is one of the ministries of the Finnish Government. The ministry implements industry, labor, and local development policies. There are two ministerial portfolios located within the minis ...

gave authorisation to the Ministry of Transport and Communications to establish the ''Turku One Hour Train Project Company'' to oversee the Helsinki–Turku high-speed rail line, and the ''Suomirata Project Company'', which will manage development of the new Riihimäki–Tampere line. Following the Finnish government's request for investment in February 2020, the EU's

Connecting Europe Facility The Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) is a European Union fund established in 2014 for infrastructure investments (in particular the Trans-European Networks) across the union in transport, energy, digital and telecommunication projects, which aims ...

approved €37.5 million in funding for the Helsinki–Turku high-speed rail project in July 2020, to form an integral part of the

Trans-European Transport Network The Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) is a planned network of roads, railways, airports and water infrastructure in the European Union. The TEN-T network is part of a wider system of Trans-European Networks (TENs), including a telecommun ...

's Helsinki–Valletta Corridor. In October 2021, the project company began the planning stage of the project. The name of the project and the company was changed from ''Turun tunnin juna'' ("Turku One Hour Train") to ''Länsirata'' ("West Railway") in December 2023. In July 2024, the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

declined an application for funding the construction of the railway, prompting multiple members of parliament to question the future of the project. In response, Prime Minister

Petteri Orpo Antti Petteri Orpo (; born 3 November 1969) is a Finland, Finnish politician currently serving as the prime minister of Finland since 2023 and as the leader of the National Coalition Party since 2016. He briefly served as speaker of the Parliame ...

stated that the railway's construction is going ahead, with the section between Espoo and Lohja to be built under his government and the remaining section between Lohja and Salo left to future governments.

Route

The line is planned to branch from the

after Espoo railway station, connecting to Salo following the

Finnish national road 1 The Finnish national road 1 ( or ; ) is the main route between the major cities of Helsinki and Turku in southern Finland. It runs from Munkkiniemi in Helsinki to the VI District of Turku, and is part of the European route E18. The road is a m ...

corridor, through the municipalities of

Vihti Vihti (; ) is a municipality in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Vihti is situated in the Uusimaa region. The population of Vihti is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Fin ...

and

Lohja Lohja (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the southern interior of the country. Lohja is situated in the western part of the Uusimaa region. The population of Lohja is approximately . It is the most populous Municipalities of Finland, munici ...

. To complement the line and increase capacity, the track between

Leppävaara Leppävaara () is a district of Espoo, a city in Finland. The Rantarata rail line and the Ring Road I, the busiest road in Finland, cross in Leppävaara, thus making it a major traffic hub in the Greater Helsinki region. The Sello Shopping Cent ...

and

will be quadrupled as part of the

Helsinki commuter rail Helsinki commuter rail (, ) is a commuter rail system serving the Helsinki metropolitan area. The system is managed by the Helsinki Regional Transport Authority (HSL) and operations are contracted out to VR Group, VR at least until 2031. The sys ...

services. New stations are proposed to be built in Hista (

Veikkola Veikkola () is a village in Kirkkonummi municipality in Uusimaa, Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east ...

, Nummela and Lempola (

Objections

In July 2019, residents of the Lukkarinmäki area of Salo have gathered a petition of 2,500 signatures against building the line through their neighbourhood, due to the potential need to demolish some properties. Alternatives proposed include building the line to avoid the neighbourhood or building a tunnel.

Benefits

By reducing the journey time to 75 minutes between Helsinki and Turku, along with new stations in Vihti and Lohja, a further 1.6 million passengers are expected annually. Capacity will also be freed on the existing

railway line following the coast.

Costs

The total construction cost of the ELSA-rata was estimated at €1.5 billion as of 2016, with planning costs of €40 million. In 2019 it was reported that the expected cost had increased to €2 billion. In December 2023 the project company Länsirata Oy lowered their cost estimates significantly due to major changes in project planning. The whole project is now estimated to cost from 2,8 to 3 billion euros.

References

External links

Tunnin juna (in Finnish)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helsinki-Turku high-speed railway Railway lines in Finland Proposed railway lines in Finland 5 ft gauge railways in Finland 2031 in rail transport