The European Commission granted a total of 5.8 billion euros in funding, of which 2.48 billion euros came from general appropriations. Some of the funding decisions were already made on April 7, 2022. In the 2021 application round, a total of EUR 101.9 million was awarded to projects in Finland. The Commission grants funding to projects with high planning and implementation potential.
“In last year’s application round, Finland was more successful than ever before. Thanks go to high-quality applications that help improve our country’s competitiveness by developing rail and port traffic,” says the Minister of Transport and Communications. Timo Magpie.
The CEF program supports transport projects in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). The EU-wide TEN-T connects railways, inland waterways, roads, sea and air connections into one transport network. In Finland, funding was granted for both core and overall network projects. The CEF program finances the implementation of the TEN-T network in accordance with the CEF and TEN-T regulations.
Financing for rail traffic and ports
Construction of the Kupittaa-Turku double track and the Turku rail yards
22.98 million euros were allocated for the construction of the Kupittaa-Turku double-track line and the Turku rail yards. The amount is divided equally between the Finnish Transport Agency and the City of Turku. The project is part of the construction of a high-speed train connection between Helsinki and Turku. The goal of the support project is to enable the significant increase in passenger traffic caused by the high-speed train connection between Helsinki and Turku, its coordination with freight traffic, and to promote the development of local transport in the Turku region.
Planning for the construction of the Tampere passenger railway yard
EUR 6.26 million was allocated for planning the construction of the Tampere passenger rail yard. The Finnish Transport Agency received 5.38 million euros, the city of Tampere 0.8 million euros and VR 0.08 million euros. Tampere railway station is an important traffic hub, the development of which serves the extensive network connections related to the station.
Improving the smoothness of rail traffic between Tampere and Jyväskylä
The Finnish Transport Agency was granted EUR 3.23 million for the development of the railway between Tampere and Jyväskylä. The goal of the planning project is to improve the smoothness and punctuality of rail traffic, taking into account the environment, and to reduce the susceptibility to disturbances on the Tampere-Jyväskylä line. The goal is also to improve the speed of passenger traffic and ensure the capacity of the rail section is sufficient by developing transport destinations.
Development of transport places on the Oulu-Kontionmäki railway section
The Transport Agency was granted 7.25 million euros for the development of traffic destinations on the Oulu-Kontionmäki railway section. The capacity utilization rate of the Oulu-Kontiomäki section is high due to the long distances between transport locations, and the traffic is therefore sensitive to disturbances. The number of trains cannot be significantly increased either. The development project of the Oulu-Kontiomäki railway section includes the construction of four new long-distance transport points and the expansion of the existing Utajärvi transport point.
Deepening the Kemi Ajos channel and improving the port infrastructure
A total of EUR 26.12 million was allocated to the Kemi port development project. The Finnish Transport Agency received 12.54 million euros and the port of Kemi received 13.59 million euros. The project improves the safety of the port’s sea connection by deepening and widening the channel to Kemi Ajos. In addition to dredging, the project includes improving the port’s infrastructure. With a navigation depth of 12 meters, the project enables more efficient operation, enables larger ships to enter the port with full cargo and prevents congestion in the port.
In addition, the commission granted funding to other operators connected to both the core and overall network. Port projects improve both the infrastructure and take care of the necessary environmental investments. 6.8 million euros were allocated to the Twinport V project in the ports of Helsinki and Tallinn, 3 million euros to the Power-4-Future project in the port of Kokkola, 7.5 million euros to the Quays2Solutions project in the port of Pori and 7.5 million euros. 2.08 million for the Baltic comp project of the ports of Rauma and Ystad.
Some of the Finnish projects were left without funding
Despite good evaluations, some Finnish projects did not receive funding. Relative to the available budget, the Commission received a large number of applications. This increases the probability that sensible projects will go without funding. A total of 484 applications arrived in the application round, of which 317 were submitted for the general application and 82 for the cohesion application. The requested funding was 14.6 billion euros. A total of 103 projects were financed from the general appropriations and 32 projects from the appropriations allocated to the cohesion countries. Especially for the core network, the total amount of funding applied for significantly exceeded the allocated funds for this purpose. State-funded projects that were left without CEF funding are the improvement of the Naantali-Raisio road connection, the second phase of the Helsinki-Riihimäki railway project, the improvement of the Paimenporti connection to the port of Kotka, the Finnish airport line. Railway and the NEXT ITS Digital Corridor project.
At the meeting of the Transport Program Committee, Finland abstained from voting on the result of the application. In Finland’s opinion, the application evaluation process should be more transparent and consistent. For example, the Airport line project was rejected without any coherent justification. Finland emphasized at the committee meeting that this issue is problematic.
Next steps
The commission will conclude payment agreements with each applicant by the end of 2022. The Commission will open the next CEF application in September 2022. Projects that did not receive funding in the previous application round can apply for funding again in the fall.
Source: Ministry of Transport and Communications
Source: The Nordic Page