Finland currently uses a broad gauge (1,524 mm) for its railway network, inherited from its time as a grand duchy in the Russian Empire. Now a member of NATO and facing the first signs of a military build-up on its border, the country is planning to switch to the European standard gauge (1,435 mm) instead.
Reasons to change the track gauge include improving Finland's security of supply and military mobility, as well as cross-border links to Sweden and Norway.
According to Ranne, the plans are not exclusively a Finnish matter, but a joint project between Europe as well as Nato.
Once started, the track gauge adjustment efforts would begin north of Oulu, a city on the country's northwestern coast.
It won't happen fast, though. Here's Transport Minister Lulu Ranne: "Of course, we are very pragmatic and realistic, we cannot do this in five years. Planning will continue until the end of the decade, and maybe in 2032 we can start construction."
To quote a classic epithet of the Western canon: "Choo Choo Motherfucker."
Previously:
• Why do trains suck in the U.S.?
• Polish hackers successfully bypass manufacturer's 'bricking' of trains
