Train service|The opposition leadership of the Transport and Communications Committee is surprised by Minister Lulu Rantee’s (ps) desire to suspend the state aid program, which was intended to find out and improve train connectivity.
Opposition wonders the Minister of Transport and Communications Lulu Ranteen (ps) to act. The ministry led by Rante has suspended the state aid program, which was meant to find out and improve train connectivity.
“It feels strange that the gloves have been thrown on the counter”, Vice-Chairman of the Transport and Communications Committee Timo Furuholm (left) tells HS.
“At the same time, large rail investments are planned, but such low-hanging fruit cannot be fixed. Now specifically, we should find out the costs of improving coverage on certain sections of the track,” Furuholm says, and takes, for example, the connections from Helsinki to Tampere and Turku.
Committee chairman, member of parliament Jouni Ovaska (central) says that rejecting the project is “political incompetence” on the part of the minister.
“VR, the operators and the state have been arguing about this issue for years. Additional masts would already be needed between Tampere and Helsinki”, emphasizes Ovaska.
Money according to the representatives of the opposition, 4.7 million euros would have been available. Furuholm says he received information about the suspension of the project last week from VR’s supervisory board.
Furuholm reminds that improving train connectivity is an absolutely necessary reform when considering the goals of increasing the use of public transport and the desire to expand working areas.
Mobile connections on trains, frequent disconnections and the level of data transmission have been talked about for years.
VR has renewed the wlan systems of the trains, but better data transmission would require operators to invest in base stations and masts along the tracks, also in remote areas.
“The bad situation will continue unless the ministry gets telecom operators, VR and support mast builders to the same negotiating table,” says chairman Ovaska in the press release of the opposition groups.
According to Traficom’s report last year, the average cost of one mast base station ranges from 80,000 to 180,000 euros.
HS could not reach Minister Rannet to comment on the matter on Tuesday afternoon.
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