Kolari railway

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The Kolari railway (Finnish: Kolarin rata) is the northernmost railway in Finland and goes between Tornio and Kolari. It is 186 km (116 mi) long. The railway is not electrified and it has Finnish broad gauge. It connects to the Oulu–Tornio railway in Tornio.

It was built in 1928 the first 79 kilometres (49 mi) Tornio–Kaulinranta and in 1967 the remaining 123 kilometres (76 mi) to Kolari. There are two mine railways, both 20 kilometres (12 mi), north of Kolari to the mines of Rautuvaara and Äkäsjokisuu. These mines were the primary reason to extend the railway north of Kaulinranta.

There were in 2009-2010 short term plans to extend the railway 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) 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.^[1]

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. ^[2]

Media related to Tornio–Kolari railway at Wikimedia Commons