Finland - General Information

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Country Name

Finland (Suomi)

National Railway System

National Railway Operator

VR Oy (VR AB). VR was the official abbreviation of Valtionrautatiet (= State railway), but is now the company's full name.

Language

Finnish and Swedish are both official languages of Finland. Swedish is the first language of only 6% of the population, who live mainly in the south and west. Many public notices and signs are in both languages. In towns where the Swedish place name is used, the Finnish version is almost always shown as well.

Currency

Euro

UIC code

numeric 10; alpha FIN. This is shown on all new vehicles and is slowly being added onto existing VR rolling stock which was previously not numbered according to the UIC system.

Timetable

Journey Planner

Timetables. For a journey now use “Timetable Search” at the top of the page; for a journey on a specific day/time use “Search Timetables” at the bottom of the page.

Actual Train Times

Downloadable Timetable

The timetable PDFs for long distance and regional services are available only in the Finnish version of the website.

Timetables gives a combined PDF of all long distance and regional services, using their long-established table numbers (as used in EGTRE), whereas "Asemakohtaiset aikataulut" leads to individual PDFs from a drop-down list of various routes or combinations of routes (table numbers are not given). A diagrammatic route map is available for the long distance and regional network.

Helsinki suburban timetables : "Route timetables" leads to PDFs of suburban routes from a drop-down list, whereas "Station timetables" leads to PDFs of station departure lists from a drop-down list. A diagrammatic route map is available for the Helsinki suburban network.

Working timetable information, in graphical format, is available through the Julia website - go to this page, select the required route section from the drop-down box, insert required date, and press the green Hae button.

Printed Timetable

Pocket size timetables for other than suburban services are available at main stations but printed system timetables are no longer published.

Engineering Information

Korvaavat bussit provides information on replacement buses.

Maps

Printed Maps

Web-based Maps

Ticketing

Very few stations have open ticket offices, the majority rely totally on ticket machines which have an English option and are straightforward to use. When purchasing for InterCity and Pendolino journeys, the machines automatically include a Reservation in the price and allocated seat details are displayed on the ticket. Advance on-line purchases offer substantial discounts for printed or phone-based tickets - again including seat Reservations. It is not compulsory to have a reserved seat to board an IC or Pendelino train (for example, if using an InterRail ticket) but as seats are not physically marked as reserved you may be asked to move by a passenger holding a reservation.

Within the Helsinki suburban area, tickets must be purchased (or held) before boarding trains. Outside this area, tickets can also be bought on the train: on Regional trains on rural lines from on board machines where there are no guards, or on main lines from on board staff. However, such purchases will be at a slightly higher fare than from station machines. Cash is no longer accepted as payment; long distance tickets can be purchased from train conductors and railbus vending machines only with payment cards. On some trains, carriages in which tickets cannot be purchased are indicated by prominent signs on the outside. A penalty fare system operates - a substantial penalty is charged in addition to the fare if a passenger is found without a valid ticket.

Infrastructure

Infrastructure Authority

Väylävirasto Trafikledsverket, the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency is responsible for railway infrastructure.

Network Statement

The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency Network Statement, Railways provides a list of Network Statements by year. Click on "in English" at the top of the screen to obtain the documents in English.

Gauge

  • 1524 mm. A study has concluded that converting the 1524 mm broad gauge national railway network to the European standard of 1435 mm would not be financially viable.

Other systems:

  • Helsinki Metro - 1522 mm;
  • Helsinki trams and Jokeri Light Rail - 1000 mm;
  • Tampere Tramway - 1435 mm.

Electrification

  • 25kV 50Hz
  • 750 V DC Third Rail - Helsinki Metro
  • 600 V DC Overhead - Tramways and Light Rail

Rule of the Road

Right hand running but most of the network is single-tracked, while the Helsinki Airport Loop (Ring Rail Line) is left hand running. Double track lines are mostly equipped with bidirectional signalling. Unusually, on four-track lines the directions are ↓↑↑↓ - i.e. the right hand pair of lines is left-handed. From Pasila to Kerava the tracks are southbound fast; northbound fast; northbound local; southbound local. Similarly on the coast line (Pasila - Leppävaara): eastbound fast; westbound fast; westbound local; eastbound local.

Distances

The Network Statement (see Network Statement) gives overall distances for each section (Appendix 1) and detailed distances for each station from Helsinki in alphabetical order (Appendix 2).

Distances for current operational locations are shown on the graphical working timetables available through the Julia website - go to this page, select the required route from the drop down list (the date box is immaterial) and press the green Hae button. The milepost distances (in km) are down the left axis of the graph. Bear in mind that - in consequence of route relocations around the system - there are various short and long kms so the milepost distance may not represent today's actual travel distance.

Other Railways

Karhulan - Sunnilan rautatie (a freight line near Kotka)

Tourist Lines

  • Jokioisten Museorautatie: Humppila - Jokioinen (750 mm gauge)
  • Nykarleby Jernvag: from Kovjoki, along 2 km of the trackbed of the former VR Uusikaarlepyy branch (600 mm gauge).
  • Porvoon Museorautatie is responsible for the 17km line between Olli and Porvoo; they operate diesel railcar excursions through from Kerava and Helsinki on summer weekends (1524 mm gauge). Note: Traffic was banned from 23 October 2024 owing to the condition of the track
  • Steamrail – Höyryraide Ay operate occasional steam excursions from Nurmes (1524 mm gauge).

An annual listing is produced by Resiina magazine and the Heritage Railway Association of Finland, and available at the Heritage Trains web page. This list includes specials operated over other VR lines in summer by preservation societies.

The Scandinavian Railways Society website gives links to the Finnish Railway Museum and the Helsinki Tram Museum.

Rail cycling is available between Pori and Kankaanpää.

Metro

Helsinki Region Transport is owned jointly by several local authoritties in the Helsinki area.
A 7km extension from Matinkylä to Kivenlahti was opened on 3 December 2022.

Trams/LRT-Systems

Helsinki Region Transport Trams.
The 25 km Raide-Jokeri (Jokeri Light Rail) system, which runs from Itäkeskus (in eastern Helsinki) to Keilaniemi (in Espoo) opened to traffic on 21 October 2023.
Track plans for the metro, tram system and the Jokeri Light Rail system are available on the Gleisplanweb site.

The first part of Phase 2 of the Tampere Tramway, a 2 km extension of line 3, opened on 9 August 2023. The next part, section 2B is to be completed at the end of 2024, and traffic to Lentävänniemi is scheduled to begin on 7 January 2025.

See also Finland - Tram services over obscure routes

Recent and Future Changes

Recent Changes (latest first)

On 14 September 2024 the Transport Infrastructure Agency (Väylävirasto Trafikledsverket) banned traffic on the Seinäjoki – Kaskinen line owing to the condition of a bridge. The annual special train for the herring market, planned for 5 October, was cancelled. A Network Statement had stated that the Kaskinen line would only be maintained until 31 December 2022, but funding for repairs is allocated in the Government's VR 2025 Budget.

Helsinki Tramway line 13, from Palisa to Nihti via Kalasatma (4.5 km), started passenger operation on 12 August 2024.

Ylivieska to Iisalmi electrification work has been completed with first trains on March 4 2024. Electrification also included the 2020 opened Iisalmi avoiding curve, plus from Iisalmi to the phosphate mine at Ruokosuo on the line from Siilinjärvi towards Joensuu. Elsewhere electrification work on the the Laurila – Tornio – Haparanda (Sweden) line, started at the beginning of April 2023.

The Helsinki - Turku line is closed from 15 August 2022 until 2024 between Kupittaa and Turku for major engineering work, including doubling the line.

On 6 April 2022 the VR Group board decided to stop all freight traffic between Finland and Russia. It began the process of terminating its cross-border freight contracts, with traffic expected to cease completely by the end of 2022 at the latest. However, it then decided to continue transporting commodities not subject to EU sanctions against Russia.

The Allegro service between Helsinki and St Petersburg was discontinued from 28 March 2022 as part of the sanctions against Russia. The Tolstoi overnight train between Helsinki and Moskva was suspended by RZD on an unknown date as a result of the Covid pandemic. In August 2022, VR Group decided to write off all Allegro trains and their spare parts but in 2024 it was announced they would be reused on some internal services.

The 16 km first phase of the standard gauge Tampere Tramway opened on schedule on 9 August 2021, an extension from Pyynikintori to Santalahti on 7 August 2023, with further to Lentävänniemi forecast to open on 7 January 2025.

Four sections of line were scheduled to close from 27 March 2016 but the Ministry of Transport postponed the closures pending decisions on the possible opening up the passenger rail sector to competition, so the lines remain open until further notice:

11 Orivesi - Haapamäki
11 Jyväskylä – Haapamäki – Seinäjoki
14 Joensuu – Nurmes
17 Joensuu - Viinijärvi - Varkaus

A 14 km westward extension of the Helsinki Metro to Matinkylä opened on 18 November 2017. A 7km extension to Kivenlahti opened on 3 December 2022.

The line north from Seinojaki to Oulu is being doubled, with parts in use by 2017. The freight line to the Russian border at Vartius and others to Pietarsaar and Talvivaara have been electrified, and Jyväskylä - Äänekoski was being electrified in 2016.

The 18 km Helsinki Kehärata Ring Line (Vantaankoski - Helsinki-Vantaa Airport - Hiekkaharju) opened on 1 July 2015 (see routes I and P on schematic route plan).

The last train ferry connecting with Sweden, between Turku and Stockholm Värtan, closed on 31 December 2011.

Allegro high-speed trainsets were introduced in December 2010 on the two daytime services between Helsinki and St Petersburg, cutting the journey time from six to 3½ hours.

The Kemijärvi - Kelloselka line closed after the last freight ran on 28 July 2010.

A new 19 km freight-only line from Savio, south of Kerava on the main Helsinki-Tampere line, to the harbour at Vuosaari in eastern Helsinki, started operating in November 2008.

A high speed line from Kerava to Lahti - a short cut from Helsinki towards the east and St Petersburg - opened to passengers on 3 September 2006.

Electrification from Oulu to Rovaniemi was completed in December 2004 and from Iisalmi to Oulu in December 2006.

Extensive work has been carried out on the main line between Helsinki and Tampere, a major new alignment at Lempääla coming into use in 2002.

The branch from Kouvola to Kotka was extended 0.8km to Kotka Satama on 31 May 1998 following experimental summertime services from the early 1990s, taking passengers closer to Maritime Festival events.

The Pönttövuori tunnel, between Jyväskylä and Lievestuore, came into use in 1995 in connection with electrification from Jyväskylä to Pieksämäki.

Future Changes

Finland objected strongly to the European Commission proposal in July 2022 that new lines should be built to the standard gauge of 1435mm, and key routes of other gauges converted.

Construction of the 10 km Crown Bridges light rail extension of the Helsinki tramway to Laajasalo Island started in 2021 with target completion 2026/7.

The FinEst Link project to build a 92 km under-sea tunnel between Helsinki and Tallinn, originally projected to open in December 2024, has been delayed by up to six years after the Helsinki-Uusimaa regional council voted to route the line under the capital rather than direct to Helsinki Airport.

The government and relevant local authorities have established companies to plan two major projects and granted €40m to cover the costs of planning:

  • Work on the design of the Turun Tunnin Juna Oy (One Hour Train) project, a 95km high speed line between Espoo (west of Helsinki) and Salo (east of Turku) and double-tracking Salo – Turku, was approved in December 2020. In October 2021 responsibility was transferred from the national infrastructure agency to the dedicated project body. Planning is scheduled to be complete by 2023, with the cost split between the national and local governments. The line is due to open in early 2030.
  • Finnish Rail will develop plans for new alignments and additional tracks to provide a 1 hour journey time between Helsinki and Tampere via Helsinki Airport. This appears to be an enhancement to the 2019 project to develop a Riihimäki – Tampere high speed line.

Special notes

The spelling of proper names in Finnish varies according to grammatical case. The name of the Finnish capital is Helsinki, but this appears as Helsingistä (from Helsinki), Helsinkiin (to Helsinki), Helsingin (Helsinki's) and in Helsingissä (in Helsinki), as well as Helsingfors in Swedish. Many towns have names in both Finnish and Swedish, eg: Oulu - Uleåborg, Pori - Bjorneborg, Tampere - Tammerfors

Long distance trains also include special areas to be used by those travelling with dogs or other animals. IC and IC2 trains have compartments for passengers suffering from allergies. All parts of Pendolino trains are stated to be designed for passengers with allergies, except for the carriage where animals are permitted.

Gauge Conversion

As part of its ongoing revision of the Trans-European Transport Network Regulation, and following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in July 2022 the European Commission proposed a requirement that all new railway lines on TEN-T routes should be built to 1435 mm gauge, and called for a migration plan for the conversion of existing lines. The suggestion was criticised by Finland.

In December 2022 the Ministry of Transport & Communications commissioned a preliminary report into gauge conversion. The report was published on 12 April 2023 and considers three scenarios, assessing accessibility, sustainability, efficiency and transport security:

  • Construction of a new 1435 mm gauge main line parallel to the existing 814 km broad gauge route from Helsinki to Tornio on the Swedish border, which would facilitate international services and simplify rolling stock procurement. In June 2024 the Ministry directed the Transport Agency to draft a feasibility report on a line from Oulu to Haparanda.
  • Construction of new Helsinki - Tampere, Helsinki – Turku, Helsinki – Kouvola – Joensuu and Kouvola – Kuopio – Kajaani lines to 1435 mm gauge, which is deemed worthy of further analysis;
  • Regauging only those lines on TEN-T routes to 1435 mm. This would have negative consequences for freight traffic and would be less cost-effective than converting the entire network.
  • Dual gauging is not practical, as the 89 mm gauge difference is too small for a three rail configuration. Four rail interlacing would cause problems with pantographs and overhead electrification geometry.

The study has therefore concluded that converting the 1524 mm broad gauge national railway network to the European standard of 1435 mm would not be financially viable. Whilst recognising that regauging would facilitate international passenger and freight traffic and could simplify rolling stock procurement, the study determined that the conversion costs would too high in relation to the potential benefits.

See also