of the US, wore furs supplied by Hermansons, whose shop still stands in Haparanda, albeit closed now. Haparanda was the only open railway border crossing at the border to Russia during World War I. Sports Haparanda/Tornio play in the second tier bandy division in Sweden, allsvenskan. Haparanda hosted matches in the Bandy World Championship 2001. Other sports clubs located in Haparanda include: Asplöven HC (ice hockey) Haparanda FF (football) The impact of the Finland-Sweden international border Relations between the neighbouring towns have always been friendly. A large portion of Haparanda's population speak both Swedish and Finnish. Today the two towns are closely interconnected economically and socially; they constitute a transborder conurbation marketed as "EuroCity". Since Sweden and Finland are in different time zones, Haparanda is one hour behind Tornio. This allows a unique spectacle on New Year's Eve, when people can welcome the arriving year twice. Since 2005 the cities have rebranded themselves as "Haparanda-Tornio" in Sweden, and "Tornio-Haparanda" in Finland. In 2020 and 2021, this interconnectedness has experienced economic interruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the differing national responses in Sweden and Finland. Sweden has generally speaking implemented slightly laxer restrictions while Finland has closed borders and slightly stronger restrictions. Some Swedes have also experienced prejudice on the Finnish side of the border, by Finns, due to the worse Covid situation in Sweden. Haparanda has a railway station, which is served by three trains per day on weekdays. The line was closed to passenger trains between 1992 and 2021, when passenger services restarted. This was the only route open between Russia and Germany in World War I, and during World War II many of the approximately 80,000 Finnish children evacuated to Sweden entered the country here. 75,000 WWI prisoners of war were exchanged between the warring sides and 27,000,000 kg of mail, mostly from or to prisoners of war, was sorted at Haparanda. Rail gauge Haparanda is connected to the Swedish national network by the Haparandabanan (Haparanda railway). The bridge between Haparanda and Tornio is the only direct connection between the Swedish and Finnish rail systems. The two networks use different track gauges, requiring all freight wagons crossing the border to have their cargo reloaded or their bogies exchanged. Between Haparanda and Tornio there is a dual gauge track, with Swedish and Finnish , in a four-rail gauntlet track formation. Buildings An IKEA retail store opened 15 November