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Although the Barents Region has a wealth of natural resources and a diversified economic structure, it is highly peripheral. The region’s population and economic activity are concentrated around a few major centres, which are far apart and poorly linked each other.

The existing transport infrastructure and services are not adequate for integrating the dispersed regional structure and for sustaining and developing local and regional economies, social services and social contacts. National borders have resulted in separate, national transport systems operating in parallel. Almost all infrastructures have been built to link each country’s northern and southern regions with its national capital. This creates a strongly isolating frontier effect. Current national transport programmes are not yet co-ordinated with neighbouring countries and bottlenecks continue to arise at the borders.

The challenge for the Barents Transport Cooperation is therefore to link the national transport and communication systems to each other and develop the diversity of the interregional networks. Over the years, two frameworks for transport cooperation have been established: Barents Euro-Arctic Transport Area (BEATA) and the Communications Working Group of the Barents Regional Council.

• Transport infrastructure in the Barents region

Priorities

The Communications Working Group and the BEATA Steering Committee have launched a joint project “Sustainable Transport in the Barents Region (STBR)”, which defines the priorities of the Barents transport cooperation are as follows:

1. Improving transport linkages between the communities of the Nordic Countries (road, air)
2. Linking the Nordic Countries with the northwest regions of Russia (road, air)
3. Improving generally regional aviation
4. Creating an east-west heavy railway link
5. Improving cooperation in the development and security of external maritime connections along the Russian/Norwegian cost and to/from the Bay of Bothnia, Sweden and Finland.

In the north, some major routes are already undergoing improvement, complementing the east-west communications: The Northern Sea Route, Northern Maritime Corridor, the Oulu-Vartius-Kochkoma railway and further to Karelia, Arkhangelsk and Syktyvkar, Air routes connecting Tromsø-Luleå-Rovaniemi-Murmansk-Arkhangelsk and the Siberia-Murmansk pipeline.

Barents Link – a railway network for heavy traffic. A general description of the industry structure and railway network of the Barents Region and the Republic of Komi with an action programme proposal primarily concerning the transport infrastructure in order to make transport more efficient, thereby promoting development potential for  communities and trade and business.Read the more (pdf).

General information

• Road network in the Barents region
• Road corridors in the Barents region - map produced by the Sustainable Transport in the Barents Region project.
• Railway infrastructure in the Barents region - maps with the main railways, axle weights, terminals etc. Source: Barents Link report by www.bizbarents.com.
• Barents Euro-Arctic traffic Area (BEATA) website contains information about the most important transport network elements in the Barents region (roads, railways, seaports, airports and border crossings), eg. traffic statistics, road pavements and speed limits. 
• Barents Road International Association in Haparanda is a non-profit organisation, created by 23 municipalities and bus companies along the 1,500 km road on the Arctic Circle, from the Norwegian Atlantic coast to the Russian Barents Sea. The association’s aim is to facilitate public transports and cross-border travel, Bodø-Luleå- Rovaniemi-Murmansk.
• Transport and communication resources in the Murmansk region
• Transport and communication resources in Arkhangelsk

Transport and traffic projects

• Sustainable Transport in the Barents Region (STBR) - website for an ongoing project for developing the transport conditions in the Barents Region. Site contains plans, documents, information about subprojects and other ongoing activities.
• Partnership of the North Calotte – Development of logistics 
• Feasibility Study of the Salla-Kandalaksha Line [3.17 M pdf] - the goal of the task was to inspect the feasibility of the Salla-Kandalaksha section especially from the viewpoint of companies. The probable amount to be transported on the Salla-Kandalaksha line was estimated to be 1.9 million tons. The most significant benefit of the project is that it complements the transport routes of the Barents region in the east-west direction. 
• Salla CBC Centre - Centre for Border Cooperation.

Statistics

• Traffic statistics between the Finnish and Russian border, Rajajooseppi / Lotta
• Statistical tables about roads and road traffic in Finland / Liikennetilastoja

Internet infrastructure

• ICT Infrastructure in BEAR
• NORDUnet - is the Nordic Internet highway to research and education networks and provides the Nordic backbone to the Global Information Society.
• FUNET - Finnish IT center for science
• ICT in Lapland - Regional Council of Lapland, in Finnish, pdf
• Internetn in Norway 
• The Internet in Russia - report on the use of Internet in Russia, 28.7. 2004.
• Swedish University Computer Network - map of internet connections in Sweden

Other links

• Timetables
• Arctic Aviation Database - compilation of infrastructure data on over 680 airports that are located north of 55 degrees Latitude in all circumpolar regions.
• Arctic Marine Shipping Assessment - is intended to provide a baseline data of shipping activity in the Arctic for 2004, potential scenarios concerning Arctic shipping for 2020 and 2050, as well as other critical information.
• Northlink - marketing group for transportation route from Gulf of Bothnia harbours and train connections from Finland and Russia. 
• Transguide - portal to information on transport and communication research
• Transport Web - information and services available to the Transport World, transport databases and links
• Calculation system for traffic exhaust emissions and energy consumption in Finland (LIPASTO). The system is developed by the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT).
• Port - is the National Maritime Museum’s subject gateway to maritime information from the Internet.
• Chapman Freeborn  - air charter and aviation support company.