Transport connections are vital for Finland. With them, we connect to the world map, do business and create a safe and smooth everyday life.
Transport connections are developed over a period of decades, even a hundred years. For this reason, the business world has presented a quality vision for main roads and the rail network that extends to 2050. The main thoroughfares should be built as two-track and four-lane.
Even though the sieve is far away, decisions on transport connections are made one term of government at a time. Not a single government term can be missed in the development of vital infrastructure and the maintenance of national assets.
Prime Minister Petteri Orpo the government's program includes investments of three billion euros in transport infrastructure. The investment program is balanced: roads and railways are included, old ones are improved and new ones are built. In the upcoming budget rush, it is high time to make decisions about the items to be financed, because the sand runs in the government's hourglass.
The government's investment program includes the development of the coastal line, the start of the construction of the western line, the design of the airstrip, the development of the main line, and the improvements of the Savo and Karelia lines. In all of these, you have to move forward in a planned manner.
The decision to invest in the western line falls on Prime Minister Orpo's term of office. The project as it is has been pending for ten years. Now the planning has progressed to the stage where it can be decided to start construction on the new alignment from Espoo to Lohja. The European Commission has also assessed the project as socially viable as part of the European backbone network.
The visionary project creates new working areas between Espoo and Lohja and between Turku and Salo. The journey from Helsinki to Turku is shortened by half an hour. The transmission capacity of the track will improve, which is essential for smooth traffic. The project also makes it possible to build tens of thousands of apartments for those who need them, and the resulting tax revenues for the state and municipalities are significant.
The financing of the Western Rail should be decided on time. The decision should not be postponed and the project should not be abandoned. Arguing about the beach track is pointless; traffic there will continue regardless of the western line, and it will be improved in place. However, fully renewing the coastal line into a two-track would be as expensive as building the western line, and it would not achieve the benefits of expanding the working area.
Our next transportation project that reaches far into the future is an airstrip, which is being planned for the next ten years. The runway connects the main line to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and speeds up our international connections. The costs are in the same category as the western line, i.e. around three billion euros, and the time for decisions is at the turn of the decade.
In the changed geopolitical situation, business emphasizes international connections. Our location in the northeastern corner of Europe must be compensated with active connections to the west.
The article has been published on Kauppalehti's Debatti column on September 5.9.2024, XNUMX
Aleksi Randell
CEO
aleksi.randell@rt.fi + 358 9 129 9201Confederation of Finnish Construction Industries (CFCI)
Assistant: Lotta Räty
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