The Torne River Railway Bridge is a dual gauge railway bridge between

Haparanda Haparanda (; Meänkieli and Finnish: ''Haaparanta'', ) is a locality and the seat of Haparanda Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden. It is adjacent to Tornio, Finland. Haparanda has a population of 9,166 inhabitants (2024). Haparanda is ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

and

Tornio Tornio (; ; ; ) is a city and municipalities of Finland, municipality in Lapland, Finland. The city forms a cross-border Twin cities, twin city together with Haparanda on the Swedish side. The municipality covers an area of , of which is wat ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

; the bridge can be used by the 1524mm gauge trains of Finland, as well the 1435mm gauge trains used in Sweden. A temporary ice river track was built over the

Torne River Torne may refer to: * River Torne (England), a river in South Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, England * Torne (Finnish and Swedish river) The Torne, also known as the Tornio (, , , , ), is a river in northern Sweden and Finland. For approximately ha ...

in 1917. The current bridge was opened in 1919 and was the first direct connection between the towns until the road bridge opened in 1939. It was jointly built by the governments of Sweden and Finland, and by the railway company. A small

aerial lift An aerial lift, also known as a cable car or ropeway, is a means of cable transport in which ''cabins'', ''cars'', ''Gondola lift, gondolas'', or Chairlift, open chairs are hauled above the ground by means of one or more Wire rope, cables. Aeria ...

was built in 1916 over the river to transport mail, because during parts of the year the ice was too strong for boats and too weak or too split up for walking, and this was the main gateway between Russia and Western Europe during World war One. The aerial lift was removed when the railway bridge was operating. Torne River Railway Bridge map

The bridge is painted white from the Finnish side to the international border, and is blue from there to the Swedish side. The dual gauge tracks continue over the bridge into railway marshalling yard in either country (a Swedish-gauge marshalling yard in Tornio, and a Finnish-gauge yard in Haparanda). Passenger trains also went over the bridge but have been withdrawn; the Finnish Railways ended passenger traffic to the Swedish side gradually between 1984 and 1988 while the last SJ passenger train left Haparanda in 1992. A train between

Boden, Sweden Boden (, outdatedly , Lule Sámi: ''Suttes'') is a locality and the seat of Boden Municipality in Norrbotten County, Sweden, with 16,847 inhabitants in 2018. It is part of the larger area around coastal city Luleå some southeast. After Kiruna, ...

and Haparanda was tried in the early 2000s, but was stopped as it was unprofitable. As of 2014,

Green Cargo Green Cargo AB is a Swedish state-owned logistics company that transports various types of goods by train. It was created on 1 January 2001 out of the logistics division of Swedish State Railways (SJ). While organised as a public limite ...

is shunting in Tornio, usually once or twice a day on weekdays and Saturdays. VR will shunt in Haparanda, if necessary. Current cross-border traffic consists of containerized goods and freight from

Outokumpu Outokumpu Oyj is a group of international companies headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, with 10,600 employees in more than 30 countries. Outokumpu is the largest producer of stainless steel in Europe and the second largest producer in the Americ ...

. Cross-border freight transport is expected to increase on the Swedish side with construction of the new railway line between Kalix and Haparanda. The bridge is going to be given a slightly higher internal height during 2024, and then be electrified together with the railway from

Laurila Laurila is a village in the municipality of Keminmaa in Lapland in north-western Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and R ...

in Finland. The electric railway will be in operation at end of 2024.

Technical details

The bridge is long, and was built as a swing bridge (although it was seldom used as such) which rotated in the horizontal plane around the central pillar. The bridge was converted to a fixed structure on October 22, 1985.

Gallery

File:Järnvägsbron mellan Haparanda och Torneå under byggnad, Norrbottens museum 2023 494.jpg, The bridge under construction. File:Järnvägsbron mellan Haparanda och Torneå under byggnad, Norrbottens museum 2023 560.jpg, The bridge under construction. File:Tornionjoen rautatiesilta 1930-luvulla.jpg, Railway bridge on 1930s File:Haparanda-Tornio rail bridge Sep2008.jpg, Bridge seen from the Finnish side. Note the dual track gauges File:Torne River railway bridge 20160308 03.JPG, under the railway bridge File:Torne River railway bridge 20241012 004.jpg, Railway bridge under renovation in summer 2024

References

Railway bridges in Sweden Railway bridges in Finland Bridges completed in 1919 Tornio International bridges Haparanda Buildings and structures in Norrbotten County 1919 establishments in Sweden 20th-century establishments in Norrbotten County {{Sweden-bridge-struct-stub

Technical details

Gallery

See also

References