The cross-border rail link between Tornio and its Swedish neighbour, Haparanda, is set to begin in August.
Transport Minister Lulu Ranne (Finns) said that she is "very hopeful" that the traffic will start on 10 August, based on a timetable from the transport agency Traficom.
"We are working hard to overcome any remaining obstacles and have the Public Service Obligation (PSO) contract on the traffic signed as soon as possible," she told Yle News on Monday.
Under EU law, a PSO means time-limited public support for a transport project that may be unprofitable on a free market, but is deemed to be of social benefit.
"Citizens and companies from both sides of the border have been waiting for this almost for 40 years," noted Ranne, who grew up in Haparanda.
State railways VR is to re-start the service into Sweden, which it discontinued in 1992.
Tornio councillors weigh plan on Monday
On Monday evening, the Tornio City Council is to discuss the latest plan for the long-delayed service. The meeting agenda also cites 10 August as the start date for the route.
The last passenger trains from Finland to Sweden stopped running in 1988 and the last from Sweden to Finland four years later.
Electrification of the track between Tornio and Haparanda was completed in early 2025, along with new platforms at the railway stations in Haparanda and Tornio city centre – with latter facility now being re-commissioned as a passenger train station after decades as a dusty cargo depot.
Trains between Helsinki and Kolari in Finnish Lapland now let passengers on and off at the small, remote Tornio Itäinen (Tornio East) stop.
Since Finnish track gauge is slightly wider than that used in Sweden and most European countries, passengers will have to switch trains in Haparanda.
Meanwhile, a regular passenger train connection from Haparanda west to Luleå, Sweden, has been in operation since early 2020.
That allows direct rail access northbound to Swedish Lapland and the Norwegian Sea, and south to Stockholm and continental Europe.
"VR hopes that this route will attract interest among Interrail travellers, for example, as well as Finnish and Swedish customers," the state rail operator's Director of New Traffic, Juho Hannukainen, told Yle News last month.
Overland from Stockholm to Helsinki
Last month, Tornio development director Sampo Kangastalo told Yle News that the international rail link would "hopefully" be up and running by late June, after earlier estimates that the service would start last year.
On Monday, Kangastalo said that the August start date remains iffy.
"The new date is 10 August, but that is not confirmed and 100 percent sure. It depends on how soon Traficom and VR sign their contracts," he explained.
Under a provisional schedule published by the Tornio city council, it would be possible to leave Helsinki at 1.20pm and arrive in Haparanda at 8.30pm, for example. Unfortunately, that’s a bit too late to catch the day’s last onward connection to the north or south.
However, anyone seeking a leisurely overland trip between the Swedish and Finnish capitals could leave Stockholm at 6.22am and arrive in Helsinki the following day at 9.15am.
As almost all Finnish and Swedish passenger trains run on fossil-free electricity, that allows nearly emissions-free travel between the two countries.
