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.
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.