Starting this summer, railway afficionados will be able to make a record-long train journey within the EU.And for those seeking the old-time romance of the rails, the key to the new route is a evocatively restored station in Haparanda, Sweden, dating back to 1919.When a long-awaited rail link opens between northern Finland and Sweden, it will be possible to travel some 5,000km by train from Portugal's Algarve to Kolari in Lapland – Finland's northernmost station.For a change of scenery, you could train it from Helsinki to Stockholm in just over 24 hours – compared to roughly 18 hours by passenger ferry. Or travel overland to Narvik on Norway's wild northern coast."The grand opening of this route will hopefully be just before Midsummer in late June," Sampo Kangastalo, development director of the northern Finnish city of Tornio, tells Yle News.A deal signed on Friday between the two countries aims to unlock the missing link plugging Finland into the European rail network: a short distance between stations in the twin border towns of Tornio and Haparanda, which for decades has only been possible by bus or car.Opening that bottleneck has required many years of bureaucratic and budget wrangling as well as electrification of the old train line between Kemi and Haparanda.As of this summer, Finland will be plugged into the EU rail network.Edit note 13.4.2026 at 13:14: A previous version of this map showed a rail line running from Rovaniemi to Kolari, but there is no such link and the graphic has now been updated to reflect this.Part of the complexity of the link dates back to Finland’s days as part of the Russian empire in the nineteenth century. As a result of that heritage, Finnish track gauge is still set to the old Russian standard of 1.52 metres, compared to the standard European track gauge of 1.44m, which is used in Sweden.Therefore, passengers will have to change trains in Haparanda – through that antique station."Finnish VR trains will stop at the Tornio C station and then terminate at Haparanda," explains Kangastalo. "The Haparanda station building is located between the Finnish and Swedish tracks. So to change from VR to Swedish Norrtåg trains, you’ll just walk through the station building – it’s easy."The restored station in Haparanda, where snow remains in April. Image: Wilfred Stenger / YleOn Friday, an agreement took effect between Finland and Sweden simplifying rail traffic between the two countries. That and a financing deal removed the final stumbling blocks that had been holding up the long-planned route.That means that Finnish trains will operate outside the country for the first time since they stopped running to St Petersburg in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.Ranne hails link to childhood hometownMinister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranne (Finns) says that "the goal is to get the train service started during the summer. I don't dare promise an exact date, but we’re pushing the accelerator. We’ll really make this happen and it is great! I am really looking forward to it."She points out that "there’s always a great deal of bureaucracy involved in launching new rail services, especially when it comes to cross-border traffic. But now most of this is over. I’m very hopeful that the new cross-border traffic will start during the summer," she says.According to Ranne, the new transport connection strategically important for Finland."It will support security of supply and resilience in times of crisis. At the same time, it will promote cross-border mobility for commuting, studying, everyday errands and tourism," she says."The rail link can contribute to the formation of a cross-border labour market area in the Bothnian Arc region and improve access, particularly from the perspective of tourism in Northern Finland.""And this is also nice from a personal point of view, as Haparanda was my hometown in my childhood and youth. I moved back to Finland in 1990," Ranne tells Yle News.5,000km across the EUThe new route will allow for a new record-long train journey within the EU, says European rail expert Jon Worth, an independent railway consultant and writer who has run the European Cross-Border Rail project since 2022."As far as I can tell Kolari to Lagos, Portugal, is the longest journey you can take on multiple trains within the EU," he says. The previous record was between Lagos and the Riksgränsen Station at the Swedish-Norwegian border, about six hours from Boden via two hours the mining town of Kiruna."The real potential is for Rovaniemi and Oulu, which will have a rail route to Sweden without needing a plane or a boat, and that’s excellent news," says Worth.Haparanda railway station, seen here in the 1920s, was designed by Folke Zettervall, architect of more than 250 Swedish railway station buildings. Image: Haparanda kommun "I’m very happy to see this line finally open again to passengers. The carefully restored brick hulk of a station at Haparanda has a scale and grandeur that deserves international trains. I hope this is just the start – there's more potential than the two trains a day they plan to start with."VR eyes Interrail travellersAt state rail operator VR, Director of New Traffic Juho Hannukainen says that contract negotiations are still going on with the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (Traficom) related to the launch."Our objective is for the service to begin during the summer. Unfortunately, I can’t be more specific about the date at this time," he says."VR hopes that this route will attract interest among Interrail travellers, for example, as well as Finnish and Swedish customers."In 2024, VR estimated that up to 80,000 people would travel between Finland and Sweden by train in the first year of traffic – which at that point was expected to be 2025.Rolling stock deal took effect on FridayTornio Mayor Jukka Kujala is also cautious about pinning down a date."The target is to start this summer. I’m optimistic that we can announce the exact date quite soon."He says there have been two main reasons for the delay."First, detailed negotiations about funding between the states and municipalities took more time than we expected," he explains."And transport authorities in Finland and Sweden also had to sign a new agreement to simplify railway traffic across the border. That agreement entered into force on Friday. It allows Finnish rolling stock to operate to Haparanda using permits issued in Finland, while Swedish rolling stock can operate to Tornio using permits issued in Sweden."Image: Wilfred Stenger / YleHis Swedish opposite number, Haparanda City Director Roger Danell, has high hopes for the new route."We believe that re-establishing the cross-border connection is a key to strengthening regional development. For businesses, that means new possibilities in providing goods and services. It will also open up possibilities for daily commuting to and from our cities, for instance."The twin cities have a wide-open border across islands in the Tornio River, which flows into the northern Baltic Sea.Officials report more than 14 million border crossings each year – though in some places it can be difficult to tell when you’ve actually crossed the border. The two towns, with a total of 31,000 inhabitants, collaborate on many administrative functions and other projects. They are home to major employers such as Ikea and the Outokumpu steel mill.A long day from Helsinki to Stockholm?From Haparanda, Swedish trains towards Boden and Luleå are operated by Norrtåg, a publicly funded passenger rail company owned by four northern Swedish counties. It re-started passenger rail between Boden och Haparanda in 2021 after a hiatus of nearly 30 years.A Norrtåg train in Kalix, Sweden. Image: Wilfred Stenger / YleFrom Haparanda, it’s about an hour and a half by train to Boden. That’s the crossroads to Luleå, south to Stockholm and north to Narvik.From Helsinki to Tornio is about 10 hours by train, and from Haparanda to Stockholm is about another 15 hours, so it may take just over 24 hours over land between the two capitals. That compares to the current voyage by ship, which is roughly 18 hours.Meanwhile according to a study by Visit Finland, you could reach Tornio by train from Berlin in 26 hours, including a night in a sleeping cabin.European-gauge track to Oulu?In more practical terms, the two cities hope to reap economic dividends from a major infrastructure project centred on electrification of the tracks between Laurila, near Kemi, to Haparanda. It also included safety improvements at level crossings, bridge improvements required by electrification and additions to the Tornio railyard, such as a new passenger platform.From Laurila, some 22 kilometres of track were electrified up to the Swedish border, along with about one kilometre on the Swedish side.That project cost 37 million euros, with Finland and local municipalities paying approximately 30 million and Sweden paying the rest. Both received EU support as part of the TEN-T core network corridors project, which aims for environmental, economic and security benefits.Meanwhile, Ranne has backed a long-range plan to build a parallel European-gauge track alongside the existing Finnish tracks from Haparanda to Kemi and perhaps eventually Oulu. That would be part of the Rail Nordica project, primarily aimed at improving military mobility in case of future crises. Last year, the Finnish Parliament allocated 20 million euros for Rail Nordica planning.In some sections, dual-gauge gauntlet tracks could also be used, such as those now on the railway bridge between Haparanda and Tornio. Building such dual-use would be more economical than a completely new parallel track, which would be immensely expensive. In any case, construction is unlikely to start before the 2030s.