New train service connects Finland and Sweden for first time in decades

A new passenger train linking Finland and Sweden has begun running, creating the first rail connection between northern Finland and southern Europe in nearly 40 years.

But the service makes it possible to travel around 5,000km by rail from Portugal's Algarve to Finland's northernmost train station of Kolari - believed to be the longest train route in Europe.

The route was initially suspended in the late 1980s to the early 1990s due to low passenger numbers and technical differences in the tracks between Finland and Europe.