New Eastern Railway via Lahti is a bad investment Kimmo Kotimäki
rautatie@sci.fi.
May 7 1998

New Eastern Railway via Lahti is a bad investment

A Helsinki(Kerava)-Lahti route is easy to work-out simply by looking at the map. Relative to costs it shortens the trip only a little. Better alternatives would be to improve the current route or build a completely new railway Helsinki-Kouvola, which would cost more but also its benefits would be greater. Because the route would be more direct the distance would be shorter and energy-produced emissions lower.

The straighter route would also speed-up journey times more so than via Lahti. Pendolinos travelling Helsinki-Kouvola on the new route would take 53min compared to 1h23min via Riihimäki. This speed-up would also be noticeable further east when anywhere under a line drawn Pieksmäki-Imatra would be less than 2 hours from Helsinki. The trip from Joensuu or Kuopio to Helsinki would take only 2 1/2 hours. These faster speeds would transfer travellers from cars to rail, which from an environmental viewpoint would be a good thing.

According to the Communications Ministry's 1992 Eastern Railway Report, a Helsinki-Kouvola railway has the best cost/benefit ratio, although Helsinki-Lahti-Mikkeli is not far behind. However, the Mikkeli railway would cost FIM 5.4billion, whereas the Kouvola railway would cost FIM 3billion and the Lahti railway FIM 1.8billion at 1997 prices.

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