Cross-border passenger trains between Finland and Sweden have moved a step closer.
Last Thursday, the first train for 29 years pulled into a refurbished station at the Swedish border town of Haparanda.
That follows the opening of a line from Haparanda and Luleå further inland.
On the Finnish side, meanwhile, authorities financed a project to electrify a 20-kilometre stretch of track near Laurila, after receiving a €1.6 million grant from the European Union.
Despite sharing a 545-kilometre border, the two Scandinavian neighbours lack a working connection between their national rail services.
"The start of passenger traffic to Haparanda is strategically important for achieving cross-border traffic between Sweden and Finland," said Nils-Olof Lindfors, deputy chairman of the board at RKM Norrbotten.