Kolari railway


The Kolari railway is the northernmost railway in Finland and goes between Tornio and Kolari. It is long. The railway is not electrified and it has Finnish broad gauge. It connects to the Oulu–Tornio and Tornio–Haparanda railways in Tornio.
It was built in 1928 the first Tornio–Kaulinranta and in 1967 the remaining to Kolari. There are two mine railways, both, north of Kolari to the mines of Rautuvaara and Äkäsjokisuu. These mines were the primary reason to extend the railway north of Kaulinranta.
Different sections of the railway have opened at different times from 1922-1973:
SectionOpenedLength
Tornio–Kukkola24 March 192217
Kukkola–Karunki1 January 192310
Karunki–Korpikylä1 January 19269
Korpikylä–Aavasaksa1 November 192734
Aavasaksa–Kaulinranta1 September 19287
Kaulinranta–Pello3 January 196442
Pello–Sieppijärvi1 December 196543
Sieppijärvi–Kolari1 December 196621
Kolari–Niesa–Äkäsjoki1 September 196717
Niesa–Rautuvaar1 April 197310

There were in 2009-2010 short term plans to extend the railway from Äkäsjokisuu to the new Tapuli mine in Sweden, but the mining company decided to use Narvik as shipping port instead. There are also suggestions on extending it to Skibotn or Tromsø in Norway.
Sleeper trains operate between Helsinki and Kolari, departing Helsinki at 18:14 and arriving at Kolari at 08:47 the next day. The train also carries road vehicles from Pasila station to Kolari.