Rail Baltica

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jis

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I have been watching this project since its inception. The Baltic States rail system is service to Russia oriented while this project, in standard gauge, will connect the three countries with Poland and the E.U. There is an interesting dual gauge in some areas in the former East Prussia and Konigsberg, now the Kaliningrad Oblast. The Ukraine invasion by Russia makes this project ever more important.
 
It will be standard gauge because they want to be incompatible with Russia on purpose. I am also almost certain that the undersea tunnel to Finland will be standard gauge.
Also, Helsinki is a logical transfer point for folks looking to go onwards in either direction. The practical question would be integration between this and the Finnish rail network as far as transfers go. On the other end, with standard gauge in place, the trains could continue onwards to other places (e.g. Berlin) or those services could be extended. I don't think it would be implausible for one of the operators from elsewhere to extend a night train service onto this route, for example...and the trip time is long enough that Helsinki-Western Europe would benefit from such an option.
 
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