

About
Are you interested in the Helsinki-Tallinn tunnel, twin-city development and new transport solutions?
Welcome to the FinEst Link project website!
Helsinki and Tallinn constitute an economic area of nearly 1.5 million people with busy traffic connections for people and freight. The twin cities Helsinki-Tallinn form an economic and logistic hotspot that is constantly growing. Last year the port of Tallinn welcomed its 10 millionth passenger. Both Helsinki and Tallinn handle growing volumes of freight, commuters and leisure travelers for the needs of the growing cross-border area between Finland and Estonia.
While the growing volumes of freight and passengers between the twin cities are a positive sign of interaction, they produce congestion and bottlenecks in traffic. The FinEst Link project explores the development needs in transport between Helsinki and Tallinn in a long-term perspective. On one hand the project analyses how the existing fast ferry services and connections could serve the increasing traffic volumes between the ports of Helsinki and Tallinn. The project also carries out a feasibility study that analyses from an economic and technical standpoint whether there are grounds for visioning a sub-sea railway tunnel between the two cities. The results of the project will be available in spring 2018.
The FinEst Link project (2016-2018) with a total budget of 1.3 million euros has received co-funding from the EU’s Interreg Central Baltic progamme. The project consists of six partner organizations in Finland and Estonia: Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council (lead partner), City of Helsinki, Finnish Transport Agency, Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, City of Tallinn and Union of Harju County Municipalities.
The FinEst Link project is built on openness and transparency. On this webpage you can find updates and results in the course of the project’s lifecycle related to, for instance, methodology, data, conclusions and recommendations.
Newly published
The FinEst Link subreports are published in the Studies section of this website (published 11.4.2018)
FinEst Link Feasibility Study – Final report (published 7.2.2018)
Video presenting the key results of the Project (12 min)
The geological survey on the proposed railway tunnel route options made by the Finnish Geological Survey (February 2017).
The FinEst Link new technologies challenge (October 2017)
Studies
FinEst Link subreports
(11.04.2018) In addition to the project’s Final Report, several subreports are now published. The subreports provide more detailed analysis and background data for the feasibility study.
WP2: Comparative impact analysis
Annex 1: FinEst Link Scenario 0+
Annex 2: FinEst Link Passenger Volume Estimation
Annex 3: Finest Link Cargo Volume Estimation
Annex 4: Finest Link Cost Benefit Analysis
Wider Economic Impacts appendix
WP3: Technical concept and economic assesment
Strategic Environmental Assessment
Alignment Alternatives subreport
WP4: Benchmarking
Benchmark and Financial Analysis: Final report
Benchmark and Financial Analysis: Summary
Benchmark and Financial Analysis: presentation
WP5: Communication
Considerations for next steps of the project and key milestones
FinEst Link project’s Final Report
(07.02.2018) The Helsinki-Tallinn Transport Link Feasibility Study summarises the results of the technical and economic feasibility study of the Helsinki-Tallinn railway tunnel.
FinEst Link Feasibility Study – Final report
Video presenting the key results of the Project (12 min.)
Geological Survey of the Helsinki–Tallinn railway tunnel route
(20.2.2017) Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) conducted acoustic-seismic surveys of the possible linings for an undersea railway tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn. The survey provides a detailed information of the geological structure of the sea floor between the two cities. To read more about the geological survey, click here.
Objectives
The FinEst Link analysis is based on the following objectives
Improvement of the travel service to facilitate daily commuting between Helsinki and Tallinn
Including reduction of travel time between the cities to approximately 30 min, frequency of travel service, ticket price.
Smooth travel chains and integration with transport systems
Including integration of travel chains into the national rail networks, public transport systems in both cities, airports and Rail Baltic.
More effective freight transport chains
Including affordable travel service price, improvement of frequency, reliability and delivery time.
Improved environmental sustainability
Including improved energy efficiency, healthy urban environments and lower carbon dioxide emissions.
Improved safety and security
The transport solutions are safe and reliable.
Economic viability
The implementation model of the tunnel is based on minimal public support for the investment cost.
Contact
- Kari Ruohonen
- FinEst Link Project Director
- kari.a.ruohonen@gmail.com
- Malla Paajanen
- Helsinki-Uusimaa Regional Council
- malla.paajanen@uudenmaanliitto.fi
- Ulla Tapaninen
- City of Helsinki
- ulla.tapaninen@hel.fi
- Heidi Mäenpää
- Finnish Transport Agency
- heidi.maenpaa@liikennevirasto.fi
- Eva Killar
- Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication
- eva.killar@mkm.ee
- Liivar Luts
- City of Tallinn
- Liivar.Luts@tallinnlv.ee
- Kaarel Kose
- Union of Harju County Municipalities
- Kaarel.Kose@hol.ee