Three Hours F inland provides a primary link for transit traffic between Europe and Russia. In the past few years, Finland has suffered a decline in transit traffic, which by 1999 came to less than half of the peak traffic of 1993-1994. Much of the bulk traffic previously carried through Finland is being routed through the Baltic States.
Rail is seen as one of the mechanisms that can boost Finland's logistic competitiveness.
Eastbound international traffic came to 12.9 million tonnes while transit traffic amounted to 2.8 million tonnes. Forest, metal, engineering and the chemical industries are Finnish rail's most valuable customers. Quality has become even more important since the EU adopted new legislation designed to open rail transport to international competition. Finland is addressing this need through greater investment in equipment, infrastructure and logistic software. Axle-weight capacity is being raised from 22.5 tonnes to 25 tonnes.