My first guess, and the apparent reason for doing this is simple. Russian trains can currently run right into Finland, and this change will stop that route of invasion.
“Finland’s track gauge is the same as Russia’s was in the late 19th and early 20th century— 1,524mm — which is 89mm wider than the European standard.”
Lol, there is one track running over the border, it’s super easy for us to disrupt that.
As the other commenter said, being EU compatible is by far the largest reason.
That, and our far-right government trying to shift attention away from their failures, with not enough money in the coffers to justify it.
Oh and look what the same transport minister said just over a year ago about the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel (about the only thing that would make a gauge change prudent):
On 8 February 2024, Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne told Estonian daily Postimees that the tunnel is “unrealistic” and not on the agenda of the government, with the project remaining on hold unless further funding is provided by the European Union.
Also changing axes at the border takes a bit of time but isn’t that complicated. trains have been operated between the Russian system and other countries in the former warsaw pact with that switch in track width for a long time.
Probably more being prepared for Rail Baltica. Building a tunnel from Talinn to Helsinki has been talked about for some time, which would create an actually busy rail connection to another country with standard gauge. Currently there is only one, which is with Sweden along the Baltic coast. That however is so far north, that few people use it, so it does not matter.
Gauge can be changed rather quickly, if need be. That happend in WW2 between Germany and the Soviets depending on where the front was.
It doesn’t matter much, changing bogies is a relatively quick and easy task, they could use that money better for other defense development.
The Russian military recognized as early as 1841 that operations to disrupt railway track did not depend on the gauge, and should instead focus on destroying bridges and tunnels
However, in both World Wars the break of gauge did pose some amount of obstacle to the invading Germans.
And of course there’s another good reason: Compatibility with the rest of the EU. Notably, the proposed Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel is supposed to have standard gauge because Rail Baltica has.
I don’t think they’ll do it in one go, though, makes much more sense to do it, mostly, at natural infrastructure replacement speed. Tracks need new sleepers and new rails every so often, the trackbed needs renovation (though narrowing of course is easier than widening), you might want to upgrade the speed rating of the lines. Each of those is an opportunity to do this kind of thing for essentially free, modulo having to deal with the different gauges on your network.
My first guess, and the apparent reason for doing this is simple. Russian trains can currently run right into Finland, and this change will stop that route of invasion.
“Finland’s track gauge is the same as Russia’s was in the late 19th and early 20th century— 1,524mm — which is 89mm wider than the European standard.”
Lol, there is one track running over the border, it’s super easy for us to disrupt that.
As the other commenter said, being EU compatible is by far the largest reason.
That, and our far-right government trying to shift attention away from their failures, with not enough money in the coffers to justify it.
Oh and look what the same transport minister said just over a year ago about the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel (about the only thing that would make a gauge change prudent):
That was before their ratings went down.
Also changing axes at the border takes a bit of time but isn’t that complicated. trains have been operated between the Russian system and other countries in the former warsaw pact with that switch in track width for a long time.
Russia is really good at building military train tracks. They are totally capable of building another one right into your rail network
Probably more being prepared for Rail Baltica. Building a tunnel from Talinn to Helsinki has been talked about for some time, which would create an actually busy rail connection to another country with standard gauge. Currently there is only one, which is with Sweden along the Baltic coast. That however is so far north, that few people use it, so it does not matter.
Gauge can be changed rather quickly, if need be. That happend in WW2 between Germany and the Soviets depending on where the front was.
It doesn’t matter much, changing bogies is a relatively quick and easy task, they could use that money better for other defense development.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5_ft_and_1520_mm_gauge_railways
Just a sentence further on:
And of course there’s another good reason: Compatibility with the rest of the EU. Notably, the proposed Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel is supposed to have standard gauge because Rail Baltica has.
I don’t think they’ll do it in one go, though, makes much more sense to do it, mostly, at natural infrastructure replacement speed. Tracks need new sleepers and new rails every so often, the trackbed needs renovation (though narrowing of course is easier than widening), you might want to upgrade the speed rating of the lines. Each of those is an opportunity to do this kind of thing for essentially free, modulo having to deal with the different gauges on your network.
Tanks and jets also pose some amount of obstacle, and they may have a better roi.
Until the Helsinki Talllin tunnel is built it doesn’t make a lot of sense.