SWOT Analysis of Northern part of NSB CoRe corridor Elaborated in regional seminar in Helsinki, Finland 18/01/2017 Connections Governance Infrastructure Impact Link between East and West Stable political environment Core road network in a good Growing city regions, critical mass around Connections to Arctic and Russia Joint historical and cultural understanding condition larger cities (Saint Petersburg) Lower language barriers than in other regions Reasonable quality of intra- Joint economic, R&D and education area, Helsinki - an important air hub, Strong cooperation of Estonia-Finland and regional public transport mobility of people and cargo and gateway to Asia Sweden-Finland Compatibility between Strong industrial base, regionally and

Strengths Vaasa-Helsinki air connection Helsinki-Tallinn twin capital city thinking harbours Vaasa-Umeå and internationally well integrated businesses Frequent, year-round Helsinki- Successful cooperation between Helsinki-Tallinn Helsinki-Tallinn Innovative environment and information Tallinn maritime connection harbours Direct railway and flight society Strong Vaasa-Umeå cooperation connection Helsinki-Vaasa Well-developed people-to-people Knowledge of managing transport High safety and reliability of contacts infrastructure in winter conditions ("Snow- the infrastructure Know-how and experience on Russia how") Well-developed ICT, e- Closeness to the Saint Petersburg governance and e-commerce economic area (market of 5 million people) Poor connection to the Cross border perspective not considered in Differences in technical Lobby against Rail Baltica in Estonia catchment areas in North national transportation plans standards, such as gauge Unclear vision of Rail Baltica’s benefits Lack of common ticketing system Differences in planning systems in terms of width (EE) between Tallinn and Helsinki their hierarchy, styles and cultures of work. Old fashioned ferry Increasing urban sprawl around Helsinki, Missing Rail Baltica Different length of planning periods and connection between Vaasa Tallinn, and Riga. Missing direct/fast connection planning methodology in Finland, Estonia and and Umeå Areas outside major nodes with low between Helsinki and Tallinn Sweden. population densities lack the critical mass Weaknesses ports and Helsinki Airport Weak or missing information exchange (e.g. areas in central Finland) No fixed link between Tallinn and between the institutions involved in planning Multiple corridors are defined and Helsinki Lack of communication between different resources are spread between them – this No railway link between Umea government sectors (e.g. regional development may cause insufficient funding for each of and Mo I Rana (NO) and transport sector the corridor Competition between the rail Regional governance in Finland and Estonia is connection on the western coast not strong enough to balance competition of the Gulf of Bothnia between the large and small cities so that urban Competition between road and areas could reap the benefits of agglomeration rail Vaasa-Helsinki. Lack of competition between railway companies (FI) Insufficient lobby of extending the NSB CNC (core network corridors) further to the North Territories that are not on CNC have limited opportunities for funding Accessibility and attractiveness of Coordination of national/regional spatial plans, Better international Stable, democratic political environment connections (joint ticket systems joint spatial perspective for 2030 and 2050 connectivity of the region and high quality of life attracts new etc.) Promoting the connection between Central Rail tunnel Helsinki-Tallinn inhabitants (ageing and climate change as Increasing economic activity in Europe and the North, strengthening of EU- Sustainable connection Vaasa- an opportunity to attract inhabitants) the Arctic region, NSB CoRE as a Nordic relationships Umeå Development of a common Helsinki- connection to the Arctic for Developing Helsinki-Tallinn twin-city Connecting Tallinn airport and Tallinn metropolitan area with a joint Europe governance (legal framework etc.), improving Rail Baltic labour market

Collaboration within the East- governance of metropolitan regions Speed train to Saint Agglomeration effects and polycentric Opportunities West corridor (Stockholm-Turku- Better assessments of costs and socioeconomic Petersburg area development positively affect economic Helsinki-Saint Petersburg) benefits for all countries involved in large Faster connections within development of a wider region Connecting to the “modern silk infrastructure projects Southern Finland (e.g. one NSB Core would open possibilities to road” (railroad) to reach Asian hour train) contain negative effects of the urban markets Faster connections towards sprawl around large cities of Helsinki and NSB CoRE as the shortest route Stockholm Tallinn between Moscow and New York Development of low carbon Developing a Nordic-Baltic Power Block in (including Vaasa-Umeå transport the EU connection) Ageing ferry infrastructure Downsides of globalisation The implementation of The importance of NSB CoRE undermined (Vaasa-Umeå connection) Changes in political environment leading to technological innovations too by the competition from other corridors Safety considerations (e.g. economic uncertainty, non-cooperation and slow providing economically vital connections accidents on Helsinki-Tallinn isolation of European nation states from North to South, such as the Scan-

Threats connection) Lack of long-term political vision on cross Med corridor Declining environmental quality national cooperation Multiple existing and planned corridors Non-realisation of Rail Baltica Internal weakness and possible break-up of the especially in Southern Finland may project EU decrease the importance and lead to Negative decision about Helsinki- Termination or decline of EU funding fragmentation of financial and political Tallinn fixed link Changing investment priorities due to economic support for NSB-CoRe. Negative decisions about the situation The increase of income in the Baltics construction of railway extensions Reinstitution of border controls because of might lead to a decreased mobility of of Rail Baltica and other terrorism threats or even the termination of labour from the Baltics connections free border crossing regime of Schengen Helsinki airport line timescale vs. agreement. other projects Nordic countries are not sufficiently Major bottlenecks not removed represented on maps used in decision making on EU level Negative effect of EU-Russia sanctions Competition between regions for funding *this is not a comprehensive SWOT analysis of the corridor, but a perspective of workshop participants

North Sea Baltic Connector of Regions Interreg Baltic Sea Region programme 2014–2020