Finnish railway news – Page 4
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In depthFinland: a positive shock in the far north
As the Finnish rail market opens further to competition, national railway VR Group remains committed to growing its passenger and freight business despite the impact of the pandemic as its Senior Vice-President for Strategy & Corporate Development Ilkka Heiskanen explains to Nick Kingsley.
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NewsHelsinki – Turku high speed planning gets underway
tn_fi-helsinki-station-exterior_01.jpg FINLAND: Responsibility for the development of plans for a high speed line between Helsinki and Turku has been transferred from the national transport infrastructure agency Väylävirasto to the dedicated project body which was established to oversee the project through to completion. Turun Tunnin Juna Oy, ...
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Metro Report InternationalCrown Bridges tramway construction approved
FINLAND: Construction of the Crown Bridges tramway in Helsinki is expected to get underway shortly, after the city council formally approved a revised budget setting the estimated cost at €326m. The 10 km light rail line will connect Laajasalo in the southeast to the city centre ...
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NewsFinland Bridge links Vladivostok and Helsinki
INTERNATIONAL: RZD Logistics, FESCO Transportation and Nurminen Logistics Services have launched a regular container service between Vladivostok and Vuosaari in Helsinki via the trans-Siberian route. The service has been branded Finland Bridge, and is expected to operate three or four times per month. ...
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NewsWagons delivered for wood chip import service
EUROPE: The Finnlog subsidiary of Finland’s VR Group has taken delivery of 35 wagons manufactured by ZMK which will be used for transporting wood chips from Metsä Group’s Svir sawmill in Russia to its pulp mill at Joutseno in Finland. Cross-border freight ...
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NewsFinnish ETCS Level 2 test route contract awarded
FINLAND: Transport infrastructure agency Väylävirasto has awarded Thales a contract to design, supply, install and test ETCS Level 2 signalling on the Kouvola – Kotka/Hamina line, with commercial use of the new signalling expected to begin in early 2023. The branch which serves an important port ...
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News‘Monster’ freight train in regular service
FINLAND: VR Transpoint has begun regular operation of 7 000 tonne trains carrying Russian transit freight to the port of Hamina. The 1 km long trains with 80 wagons and the capacity of 92 lorries have been branded Mörkö, meaning a giant monster or ogre from ...
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Metro Report InternationalFirst tram for Raide-Jokeri line delivered
FINLAND: The first Smart Artic X54 tram for the future Raide-Jokeri orbital light rail line linking Helsinki and Espoo was delivered by Škoda Transtech on April 9. The company is supplying 29 ForCity Smart Artic XL vehicles for the line under a €95·2m contract which Helsinki ...
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NewsVR FleetCare selects software for growth in a competitive market
FINLAND: The national railway group’s rolling stock maintenance company VR FleetCare is to standardise on the Infor CloudSuite Industrial Enterprise software platform, which will be implemented by Infor’s local partner Midport Scandinavia. It will be rolled out to 1 000 users, replacing a legacy system with ...
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Metro Report InternationalHelsinki’s Variotrams sold to a new home
FINLAND: Helsinki city transport operator HKL has signed a contract to sell 40 withdrawn Variotram trams which have been in storage since 2018. The first 20 trams were delivered by Adtranz and a further 20 by Bombardier Transportation in 1998-2003, but all suffered from problems with ...
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NewsFinnish passenger services secured as VR monopoly ends
FINLAND: The Ministry of Transport & Communications has awarded national operator VR a public service obligation contract for the provision of loss-making but socially-desirable passenger trains during 2021. The agreement takes into account the drop in ticket revenue as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The €30·6m ...
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NewsFinnish Rail and Turku One Hour Train companies formed
FINLAND: Companies have been established by the government and local authorities to plan two major rail projects. Suomi-rata Oy, or Finnish Rail, will develop plans for new alignments and additional tracks needed to provide a 1 h journey time on the main corridor between Helsinki and Tampere, ...
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NewsOperail begins open access freight operations in Finland
FINLAND: Estonian national freight operator Operail ran its first commercial open access train in Finland on November 3. Port operator Rauanheimo has appointed Operail to provide haulage services from the Russian border at Vainikkala to the port of Koverhar in Hanko, around 120 km west of ...
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NewsVäylä to test synthetic sleepers
FINLAND: Transport infrastructure agency Väylä has started testing FFU synthetic sleepers from Sekisui on the 1 524 mm gauge national network, to assess their suitability for use in very low temperatures.
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News‘Two-pronged’ locomotive brake maintenance contract awarded
FINLAND: The national railway group’s rolling stock maintenance company VR FleetCare has awarded Knorr-Bremse RailServices a contract to maintain the brake control and wheel slide protection equipment on 46 Sr2 electric locomotives until 2028. The mixed-traffic locos have been in service since the mid-1990s. They are fitted ...
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NewsTeltronic to supply TETRA radios for Finnish locomotives
FINLAND: Stadler has awarded Teltronic a contract to supply TETRA onboard voice and data radio equipment for 60 diesel shunting locomotives which national railway VR ordered last year. The contract covers 60 RTP-300 EN50155/EN45545 compliant radio sets, RCC-3000 touchscreen control consoles and accessories for driver’s voice communications. ...
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NewsPowerHaul locos arrive in Finland as Operail expands outside Estonia
FINLAND: Wabtec announced on June 26 that the first two of nine broad gauge PowerHaul diesel locomotives had been delivered to the port of Hanko in Finland for use by the local arm of Estonian state-owned operator Operail. The 1 524 mm gauge locomotives are being assembled ...
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NewsMitsubishi Electric Corp acquires stake in EKE-Electronics
FINLAND: Mitsubishi Electric Corp has acquired a 34% stake in EKE Group’s train automation and management systems business EKE-Electronics. The companies have also entered into a wide-ranging co-operation agreement. This gives EKE-Electronics access to fast-growing markets as well as resources for further development, and the ability to ...
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Metro Report InternationalTampere’s first tram delivered for testing
FINLAND: The first of 19 ForCity Smart Artic trams to operate the future Tampere tram network was delivered to the city by Škoda Transtech on May 25. Zdeněk Majer, board member of parent company Škoda Transportation, said the bidirectional 100% low-floor trams were a ‘modern, technically proven’ ...
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Metro Report InternationalHelsinki regional transport authority to award Raide-Jokeri light rail operating contract
FINLAND: The board of Helsinki Regional Transport Authority HSL has approved plans for the future operation of the Raide-Jokeri 25 km inter-urban light rail line which is currenty under construction. HSL is to directly award the capital’s transport operator HKL a contract to ...