Finnish Railway News - Year 2004To update this page regularly I need Your help aswell. Please
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Last updated Tue Dec 21 22:12:02 EET 2004
Today, in a ceremony attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Siemens Transportation Systems (TS) signed an agreement of cooperation with Russian Railways (RZD) and the Russian group "New Transport Technologies" (NTT) on the development and manufacture of a high speed train. This agreement initially calls for around 60 trains to be built for a top speed of 250 km/h. The trains are intended for high speed service on the lines between Moscow and St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg and Helsinki, and between other major cities of the Russian Federation.
-The agreement is a big step forward in this important German-Russian cooperation project, explained Hans M. Schabert, TS Group President, at today’s signing ceremony.
Siemens will work together with NTT on the development and manufacture of these trains. Production is expected to take place mainly in Russia and include Russian suppliers and cooperation partners. It is expected that the first trains will be completed in 2007. Working groups have already started tackling technical, organizational and financials matters in order to quickly pave the way for smooth progress in this prestige project.
Source Siemens 21.12
Source WWW
http://www.siemens.com/index.jsp?sdc_p=cfi1234907lmno1234907ps4uz1&sdc_sid=33667285587
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.57
Train ticket prices on the state railway company VR will increase by an average of 2.2 percent beginning in January. VR is increasing prices both on long-distance routes and within the greater Helsinki area.
Tickets ordered before the end of this year will be priced at the lower rates, even if the trip itself is taken in 2005.
VR will also stop selling 20-trip tickets. Multiple-trip tickets can be bought in increments of 10, 30, and 44. Also, ten-trip tickets' expiration dates are being extended; they are now good for six months.
Source YLE News 16.12
Source WWW
http://www.yle.fi/news/id4414.html
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.53
Train travel in Finnish Lapland got better on Wednesday as electrified service begins between the major northern towns of Oulu and Rovaniemi.
Thanks to rail and equipment upgrades, train speeds can be raised from 120 to 140 kilometres an hour. The trip will also be quicker since locomotives no longer to be changed in Oulu. Until now, the southern electric locomotives have had to be replaced by older diesel equipment for the northern leg. This alone will cut 20 minutes off travel time. This will not yet effect the time table.
The four-year electrification project in Lapland has cost 107 million euros and employed about 100 people.
Electrification is now expanding eastward, linking Oulu with Vartius and Kontiomäki. Electric locomotives should start on these routes two years from now. The eastern link will cost some 80 million euros.
Source Yle 1.12
Source WWW
http://www.yle.fi/news/id3600.html
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.57
Thieves recently liberated more than a kilometre of steel train track in Viitasaari in Central Finland. The stacked-away railway line disappeared from the Keitelepohja station depot over the weekend. The crime was discovered on Monday morning when the laying of the track was meant to start.
According to VR Track Ltd, which specialises in track design, construction, and maintenance mainly for the Finnish Rail Administration (RHK), the utility value of the stolen track is about EUR 10,000. Police estimate that its value as scrap metal is more or less the same. Given the nature of the item concerned, it is hard to imagine anyone having any other good use for it.
Source HS International edition 30.11
Source WWW
http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1076154679959
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.53
The Finnish rail operator VR will introduce so called "silent compartments" in trains. Mobiles will be banned in certain compartments of InterCity2 express trains from the beginning of next year. The IC2 trains have only double-decker carriages and they run between Jyväskylä and Helsinki via Tampere as well as on the run between Turku and Helsinki. The lower deck of the first carriages, or about 40 seats below the business class, will be designated mobile-free. The silent compartments will be indicated in timetables by a special sign that bans the use of mobile handsets. According to Camilla Ahlstrand of VR, many passengers have too loud phone conversations that disturb the privacy of fellow passengers.
The pilot project of mobile-free compartments on trains is a result of increasing feed-back from clients. Many passengers have been calling for mobile-free zones. On the other hand, opposite views have been expressed. In commuter traffic, many passengers like to work even when travelling. The use of mobile phones during rail journeys increased after VR and telephone operators improved the field strength of mobiles on trains about five years ago. Complaints about the use of mobile phones started right away.
For a few years, there have been special booths for mobile users on the upper deck of the double-decker IC2 coaches, but obviously it has not been enough. Furthermore, in certain express trains there are compartments with dim lights for snoozing, in which mobile phones are not allowed. These trains are in service in morning commuter traffic from Kouvola and Tampere to Helsinki for example.
VR plans to study the concept of the snoozing compartments again. Currently it is up to the conductor to dedicate a certain compartment for those wishing to extend their night's sleep on the way to work. The trial of mobile-free compartments will be launched on 9 January, and it will continue until the end of May. Whether the practice will be continued after May will be decided then. In order to see if mobile-free compartments are really needed, Ahlstrand is welcoming feedback from passengers. She nevertheless points out that regardless of the seat-number on his or her ticket a passenger may always change compartment if a fellow traveller's mobile phone is causing a disturbance.
Source HS 26.11
Source WWW
http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1076154646328
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.56
Container transport to and from China by rail has clearly increased within the past few years. This development is powered by China's intense economic growth.
Railway containers between Finland and China are primarily transported on the Trans-Siberian Railway via the port of Nahodka. This has for long been the route of choice in Far East transportation. Deliveries on the Trans-Siberian railway have rapidly increased along with the share of Chinese goods in these deliveries.
Sales Manager Tiina Mäkinen of VR Cargo estimates approximately one fifth of the total volume of goods arriving in the West on this route originate in China. Last year, container transport volume between Nahodka and Finland rose to over 100,000 TEU.
"Every day, we receive enquiries about transporting goods by rail between Finland and China. The number of these enquiries started to rise about eighteen months ago, with no end yet in sight," Mäkinen says.
Source VR Cargo
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/cargo/tp_32004_4.html
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.57
The State of Sweden plans to renovate its entire network of railways along the northern coastline from Haparanda to Umeå. The news has been received with pleasure on the Finnish side of the border. VR Cargo has strong faith in the growth of border traffic via Tornio and Haparanda.
Mr Eero Sirviö, VR Cargo Sales Director for western traffic, is well aware of the plans being made by Banverket, the authority responsible for rail traffic in Sweden.
"The Swedes are seeking to provide the conditions for dependable, efficient and competitive transport to Finland and onward to Russia. This is a positive development from VR Cargo's point of view, especially in terms of the future and competitiveness of traffic via Tornio," Sirviö says.
The railway project also has more widespread support, as the EU has granted Banverket EUR 1,000,000 to study the Haparanda track and to develop a rail gauge transfer system necessary for trains to easily cross the border between the two countries.
"EU support is quite understandable considering that the Haparanda-Tornio link is part of the Trans European Network (TEN), i.e. one of the transport routes prioritised by the EU," Eero Sirviö notes.
Source VR Cargo
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/cargo/tp_32004_3.html
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.53
Operations at VR Cargo's Cargo East Terminal or CET in Kouvola have taken off as expected.
"Transport volume has met out projections," says Ritva Rantanen, sales coordinator at the terminal.
The terminal was opened in March 2004 and has now been in operation for six months.
CET was built to cater to the Russian export needs of the Finnish forest industry. While paper is the principal item transported via the terminal, it also handles other forest industry products such as plywood.
The goods are transported either on Combitrans lorries or by train to the terminal where they are held in intermediate storage. The goods supplied by various plants are then assembled into consignments and transported to their destination by train. The majority of the wagons are headed for St Petersburg, Moscow and Kiev but paper is also transported to points farther East. Some of the products reach their final destination by Russian road transport.
Source VR Cargo
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/cargo/tp_32004_2.html
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.56
The Vetoketju project responsible for developing an automated loading and unloading system for wagons carrying paper reels received the Logistics Project of the Year Award in Finland.
The Vetoketju project is an automation system in the forest industry's delivery chain that was implemented in August of 2003. The system reduces damage to paper reels and enhances the efficiency of loading and unloading.
The core concept of Vetoketju is an automated system for loading wagons in the plant warehouse and unloading them at port terminals. The wagons have been specifically designed to accommodate automated loading and unloading.
Automated handling reduces damage to the paper reels, as it involves less handling by forklift and thus also puts less pressure on the paper reels. In the new system, paper reels are lifted by forklift only two or three times.
The Vetoketju project involved the Kajaani mill of UPM Kymmene and the UPM Group, Oy Rauma Stevedoring Ltd, VR Cargo, Pesmel Oy, EP Logistics Oy, M-real Group and Tekes, National Technology Agency of Finland.
Source VR Cargo
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/cargo/tp_32004_1.html
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.53
Junakalusto Oy is a rolling stock company owned by the Helsinki metropolitan council for railway rolling stock purchases. Junakalusto was formed last year and has not yet purchased any rolling stock. During next 20 years, it will purchase about 100 EMUs for commuter traffic in Helsinki metropolitan area.
This autumn Junakalusto will call for tenders for the supply of 40 EMUs for Helsin suburban services. Delivery will be from 2009 to 2014. Estimated cost is about 200 million euros. There will be an option for 40 more units.
Source Today's Railways 11/2004
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.56
Freight volumes between Finland and Russia continued to decline in the summer, compared to last year. The decline in volumes, which has continued all year, was also reflected in VR Group's result for January-August 2004. VR Group's net profit for the period totalled M€ 21.2, compared to M€ 23.2 for the same period last year. The result for 2003 was also boosted by revenue from the sale of real estate.
Altogether 28.5 million tonnes of freight were carried by rail between January and August. This was 3.9 % down on the previous year, due to the decrease in traffic between Russia and Finland.
The operating profit for January-August was M€ 20.5 (M€ 29.2) and net turnover M€ 756.3 (M€ 758.9).
The number of passenger journeys made by rail declined by 0.9 % in January-August to 39.5 million. The decline was due to a fall in the number of journeys in the zone administered by the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (YTV-zone).
The number of employees continued to decrease in January-August, showing a reduction of 3.5 % on the corresponding period in the previous year. In all, the group had 13,340 employees.
Source VR News 15th Oct
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/yhtyma/uuttae.html#ovk_10
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.53
VR is obtaining new car carrier wagons. The first two wagons will be taken into service in November. Initially the new wagons will only be in use on the Helsinki-Oulu route. The P 69 overnight train, with one new car carrier, leaves Helsinki at 22.30 in the evening. The P 60 overnight train leaves Oulu for Helsinki at 21.55.
When the timetable season changes in summer 2005, use of the new car carriers will be extended to services from Helsinki to Rovaniemi and Kolari and later from Turku and Tampere to Lapland.
VR ordered a total of 15 car carrier wagons in March last year from Talgo's Otanmäki works in Kainuu. The order is worth EUR 6.4 million.
The biggest difference from the car carriers currently in service is that the new wagon is fully enclosed. Cars are protected from snow storms, for example, during transport, they are carried on two decks, and all car spaces have a power supply for engine heaters. The exterior appearance and colours of the new wagons are the same as the double-decker InterCity coaches. The new wagon has an overall height of five metres, in other words the maximum height permitted by the track.
Last year VR transported more than 35,000 cars in car carrier trains. The main seasons for transporting cars are Christmas, the skiing half-term holidays in southern Finland, and Easter.
Source VR news 13th Oct
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/yhtyma/uuttae.html#vr-introduces-car-carriers
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.53
The number of Pendolino services between Oulu and Helsinki will increase on 17 October when two InterCity services become Pendolino services. In January next year more Pendolino services will be added.
In October, the 4.45 morning Pendolino will start operating from Oulu. The evening train from Helsinki will leave at 18.20 and arrive in Oulu at 00.20.
From 9 January the time for the morning train from Oulu to Helsinki will be cut by 14 minutes. The journey will then take 5 hours 45 minutes. The journey time for the evening train leaving Helsinki will be cut by 10 minutes.
In January a new morning service will also start running from Helsinki to Oulu and an afternoon service from Oulu to Helsinki. There will then be three Pendolino services in each direction between Oulu and Helsinki.
The Pendolino service between Oulu and Helsinki started in June 2002. There has been an evening train from Oulu to the south and a morning train from Helsinki to Oulu. The times for the Pendolino journeys between Oulu and Helsinki were cut by altogether 35 minutes in 2002-2003.
In addition to the Oulu Pendolino services, a new morning service will start operating from Seinäjoki to Helsinki on 18 October. The morning Pendolino will leave Seinäjoki on Monday-Friday at 5.30 am. It will be connected in Tampere to the Pendolino coming from Jyväskylä which has usually been sold.
It is planned to increased Pendolino services in the next few years, for example to the Savo line in eastern Finland and to Joensuu. The goal, when the direct line between Lahti and Kerava is completed in autumn 2006, is for the Pendolino network of services to cover all main routes.
At present VR has 11 Pendolino trains. VR ordered eight new trainsets in 2002 from Alstom Ferroviaria. The order is related to the agreement signed in 1997 which gave VR an option on extra trains in addition to the ten it had ordered previously. All the new trains will reach Finland by the autumn of 2006. VR will then have 18 Pendolinos.
Source VR 22th Sep
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/yhtyma/uuttae.html#vr-increases-pendolino
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.56
From 1st July, the Pesiökylä-Taivalkoski line was closed for good. The line will be lifted and the rail reused on the Joensuu-Ilomantsi line (30 kg/m at present). The Kolari-Äkäsjoki and Niesa-Rautuvaara lines, north or the Artic Circle, was closed on 1st September and lifted.
Source Today's Railways 7/2004
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.56
VR has on 11th May, introduced e-tickets. Customers can print an e-ticket for long-distance rail services themselves on their own printer or can order the ticket in the form of a text message to their mobile phone. Until now, it has been possible to collect rail tickets purchased online from ticket offices or automatic ticket vendors at stations or to have them mailed to the passenger's home. These methods are also still available in Internet sales.
The online ticket sales service has been in use since March 2003. Feedback has been positive because it is so easy to use and reliable. To date some 200,000 rail tickets have been purchased online. The biggest improvement passengers have wished for has been to be able to print the rail ticket themselves.
Source VR May 11th
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/yhtyma/uutise.html
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.53
VR Group's net turnover between January and April totalled 363.1 million euros (Me 367.2). The Group recorded an operating loss of Me 1.2 and a net profit of Me +0. The operating profit and net profit in the same period last year amounted to Me 5.9. The main reason for the weaker result was a decrease in Russian freight volumes.
The reduction in eastern freight volumes was caused by the double price tariffs imposed by the Russian railways on foreign carryings, a system which ensures that carryings to Russia's own ports cost significantly less than when using the traditional land routes.
The volume of eastern freight traffic remaining in and leaving Finland decreased 14.7 % and for the first four months of the year totalled 4.5 million tonnes. Transit traffic destined via Finland for third countries was down 12.6 % likewise, amounting to 1.0 million tonnes in the reporting period.
Rail-bound freight traffic in Finland increased 4.1 % to 9.2 million tonnes. Total freight carryings by rail fell by 3.2 % between January and April and totalled 15,0 million tonnes.
On the passenger traffic side, the number of passenger journeys rose 4.2 % to 20.5 million. The number of long-distance passenger journeys was 1.3 % higher than last year. The average journey length in long-distance traffic was 2 % shorter, decreasing from 220 to 215 kilometres.
Commuter traffic in the Greater Helsinki area increased by altogether 4.9 %. The increase in the zone administered by the Helsinki Metropolitan Area Council (the cities of Helsinki, Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen) was 5.7 % and the increase outside this zone was 2.0 %.
Source VR 9th June
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi/yhtyma/uutise.html
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.57
VR ordered 20 Sm4 EMUs from Alstom Ferroviaria in 2002 at a cost of €110m and deliveries from France have now started. Fourteen Sm4 (branded City Trains by VR) will be delivered this year with the rest in 2005. Initially they will be used on the Helsinki - Riihimäki service. Later they will also be used on longer distance services such as Helsinki – Tampere and (once the direct line is opened) Helsinki – Lahti. Ten Sm4 have been in service since 1999. Each aluminium bodied two-car unit has platform-level doors and can seat 192 passengers plus 100 standing. Top speed is 160 km/h. Regenerative braking is employed reducing energy consumption by some 25%.
Source VR
Source WWW
http://www.vr.fi
Reported by Phil Lockwood
<phil_lockwood5@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent from host 62.142.11.56
Talgo Oy are to build a prototype double-deck EMU to fully test this radical new design concept. Named Talgo 22 its main feature will be corridor connections on both decks. It will use the standard Talgo system of inter-car coupling. This utilizes a pair of steerable wheels, each on its own stub axel, with high- level suspension located under the floor of the upper deck. The first and last cars will have powered bogies at the outer ends, using ELIN (Austrian) traction equipment. Total cost of the project is € 8m with some funds coming from the National Technology Agency of Finland and the EU. Talgo Oy hope to win an order for Helsinki’s growing commuter traffic, for which up to 100 new trains will be needed.
Source Talgo Oy
Source WWW
http://www.talgo.fi
Reported by Phil Lockwood
<phil_lockwood5@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent from host 62.142.11.56
CKD Vagonka of the Czech Republic completed the first Dm12 rail bus on 31st January 2004. It will undergo extensive tests for the rest of the year. VR are scheduled to take delivery of it by February 2005 when regular passenger operation could commence. The remaining 15 will be delivered in the second half of 2005 and the beginning of 2006.
Source CKD Vagonka
Source WWW
http://www.vagonka.cz
Reported by Phil Lockwood
<phil_lockwood5@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent from host 62.142.11.53
The bogies for the 20 new double-deck sleeping cars (Edm) ordered by VR from Talgo Oy will run on Swiss built bogies with a design speed of 200 km/h. The Swiss company Prose will design them and Winpro in Winterthur, Switzerland will build them. Winpro built the bogies for VR’s Sr2 electric locomotives.
Source Railway Gazette International April 2004
Source WWW
http://www.prose.ch
Reported by Phil Lockwood
<phil_lockwood5@yahoo.co.uk>
Sent from host 62.142.11.56
The European Commission unveiled bold plans Wednesday to overhaul international train services in Europe, warning that without reforms rail operators may struggle to keep up with soaring cut-price airlines. Specifically the commission announced plans to open up competition in cross-border passenger rail links -- including high-speed links like Eurostar and Thalys -- to spur price competition between rival operators by 2010.
- In 2010, the high-speed trans-European network will be connected and new services will be able to develop on the basis of competition, said EU transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio.
- Pressure from low-cost airlines is already a reality for international rail passenger services: they will have to evolve into new models and this is without any doubt the right time to free up initiatives, she added.
Railways' proportion of the total EU passenger travel market has been falling for some time: it dropped from 10 percent in 1970 to six percent in 1998, according to European Commission data.
In fact international passenger train traffic is a relatively small sector at present, representing about 10 percent of all rail traffic in the Union which is due to expand from 15 to 25 countries in May.
So far only cross-border freight train services have been opened up to competition. Since March 2003 any European freight operator is able to compete for services on the 50,000 kilometers (31,250 miles) of European train tracks. The total liberalization of the freight market is due to be in place by 2008, but deregulation of passengers train services has until recently remained in the sidings, notably due to opposition by France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
But the three countries appear increasingly isolated. Five of the EU's current 15 member states have already opened up competition on domestic passenger services.
Source EU Business 3.3
Source WWW
http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/040303145636.cql6wanw
Reported by Kimmo Kotimäki
Sent from host 62.142.11.57
visits since Jan 14 2005.
Note that I don't work for VR.