The development company FinEst Bay Area Development in Helsinki intends to build a rail tunnel with two tubes under the Gulf of Finland between the Estonian capital of Tallinn and the capital of Finland, Helsinki, and has signed a 15 billion euros contract for this purpose with Chinese Touchstone Capital Partners. With a length of 100 km, this would be the world’s longest subsea tunnel, with two artificial islands for emergency exits and ventilation. The travel time between Helsinki and Tallinn would be reduced from three hours with the ferry to only 20 minutes by train. In a feasibility study from 2018, the costs for the overall project were estimated in a range from 13–20 billion euros. G. B.
