VR Group

VR or VR Group (Finnish: VR-Yhtymä Oy, Swedish: VR-Group Ab) is a state-owned railway company in Finland. Formerly known as Suomen Valtion Rautatiet (Finnish State Railways) until 1922 and Valtionrautatiet / Statsjärnvägarna (State Railways) until 1995. Its most important function is the operation of freight and passenger rail services.

Since 2010, the maintenance and the construction of the railway network are the responsibility of the Finnish Transport Agency (Finnish: Liikennevirasto). The operation and network were originally carried out by the parent company Valtionrautatiet until 1995, when it was split into VR Group and the rail administration entity Ratahallintokeskus.

History

Rail transport started in Finland in 1862, and multiple main lines were built at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century in addition to smaller private railways. Valtion Rautatiet operated mainly on the bigger and longer main lines. During the twentieth century, most private railway companies were shut down and Valtionrautatiet assumed a monopoly in rail transport. In 1995 the company was privatised into VR group.

Company organisation

Companies in the group provide road freight and bus services, catering and real estate management, and provide data, technological, and telecommunications services for the transport and logistics sectors. The group owns a bus company, Pohjolan Liikenne, and a road freight haulage company VR Transpoint.

Altogether the group of companies includes 21 companies employing a total of about 14,400 people.

Services

Because in most parts of Finland the density of population is low, Finland is not optimally suited for railways. Commuter services are nowadays rare outside the Helsinki area, but express trains interconnect most cities. As in France, the majority of passenger services are connections to the capital, Helsinki. VR provides car transport services. Seven stations allow loading and unloading of cars on trains: Helsinki, Turku and Tampere in the south, Oulu further north, and Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi and Kolari in Lapland. Car transport trains stop at other stations along the way for normal passenger transport.

Commuter traffic

VR runs commuter traffic in the Helsinki area.

International services

There is an international passenger rail service from Finland to Russia. As of June 2011, there are four Allegro passenger trains per day to Saint Petersburg and one overnight train to Moscow via Saint Petersburg called the Tolstoi (named after Leo Tolstoy).^[4] On 29 May 2011, Allegro traffic increased from two to four trains per day in each direction.^[5] The tracks on the Helsinki - Saint Petersburg line were upgraded to enable a higher running speed before the Allegro started its service.^[6]

Freight

Domestic and international freight services are provided by VR Transpoint, part of VR Group. In 2009, both domestic and international freight traffic declined, which worsened VR Group's financial position.^[7] International freight traffic is concentrated to the four railways across the Russian border, but there is also a connection to the Swedish rail network in Tornio and rail ferry connections from Turku to Stockholm, Sweden, and to Travemünde, Germany.

Rolling stock

Locomotives

VR operated steam locomotives until 1975; the regular use of steam traction for scheduled passenger services ended in 1970 but occasional use continued until 1975. As of 2011, the company operates two classes of electric locomotives (Sr1 and Sr2) and three classes of diesel locomotives (Dv12, Dr14 and Dr16). The use of diesel locomotive hauled passenger trains has declined due to electrification of all main lines and the (re)introduction of railbuses (Dm12) on secondary routes. In October 2010, VR announced plans to renew its locomotive fleet by ordering around 200 new locomotives, which are expected to enter service in 2015-2025.^[8]

Locomotive classification system

At the beginning of traffic, locomotives were distinguished by their names, and by 1865 also by their numbers.^[9] In 1887, the locomotives were given their original classification system. It was based on the wheel arrangement of the locomotives: each wheel arrangement was assigned a letter of the alphabet, which was followed by a serial number.^[10] The assignment of letters to different wheel arrangements was made when the first locomotive using it was brought into service; the letter A signified a 4-4-0 wheelbase in the Whyte notation, B signified a 0-4-2ST locomotive, C a 0-6-0 locomotive, and so on.^[11]

On 8 October 1942, the notation system was changed to two letters and a serial number. The first letter in the designation now signified the types of trains the locomotive was generally planned to haul:^[12]

• H (henkilöjuna) for passenger trains,
• P (paikallisjuna) for local (commuter) trains,
• T (tavarajuna) for freight trains,
• S (sekajuna) for mixed freight-passenger trains and
• V (vaihto, literally "switch") for shunters.

The second small letter indicated the weight of the locomotive:^[12]

• r = heavy (axle load over 14,1 t)
• v = midweight (axle load 11,1–14 t)
• k = light (axle load under 11 t)
• m = mechanical transmission (in multiple units)
• s = electrical transmission (in multiple units).

When diesel locomotives were taken into service in the 1950s, they were additionally differentiated by the steam locomotive classes by beginning their numbering from 11 instead of the next free number in running order. As a result the last steam-powered heavy passenger locomotive class was designated Hr3, and its first diesel-powered counterpart Hr11.^[11]

The current VR locomotive classification system was taken into use on 1 January 1976. The first (capital) letter was now used to differentiate between locomotive types: S (sähkö) for electric, D for diesel and T (työkone) for maintenance equipment. The serial numbers of diesel locomotive classes were not changed, the Hr11 class becoming Dr11. In addition to this the borderline between midweight and heavy locomotives was changed to 15,1 tons and the second letter in multiple units is always m (for moottorivaunu).^[11]

Carriages

The wide Finnish loading gauge allows the passenger coaches to be considerably wider than most European passenger coaches. The aisle and seats are wider than in other European trains in the standard 2+2 configuration, and in commuter traffic 3+2 seat configuration is used to allow more seats for the same train length. The last wooden-bodied carriages were withdrawn by the mid-1980s. Prior to the 1970s these had been the mainstay of VR's passenger rolling stock.

VR has four types of locomotive hauled passenger coaches:

• "Blue" carriages - popularly known as such due to their blue and light gray liveries. Once the mainstay of VR's network, they have now been replaced on most long distance services starting from Helsinki. They are still used on slower routes, for example between Turku and Tampere, and some regional train services. Top speed is 140 km/h.
• "Red" carriages - similar to the "blue" coaches but designed for commuter traffic, with a red and light gray livery, different seat layout and repositioned entrance doors. They are mainly used for locomotive-hauled commuter services to and from Helsinki during rush hours, but also on special occasions in place of the blue carriages in long-distance services. Top speed is 160 km/h after modernisation.
• Single-deck InterCity carriages - used on many routes. Top speed is 160 km/h.
• Double-deck InterCity 2 carriages - extensively used on the Helsinki-Tampere and Helsinki-Turku routes. Most long distance trains consist of both InterCity and InterCity 2 coaches. Built in Finland by Transtech Oy, these are VR's most modern carriages. Their top speed is 200 km/h.

First class carriages used to be distinguished by a yellow stripe above the windows. On the "Blue" carriages, restaurant cars are marked by a red stripe above the windows. Cars equipped with diesel generators, which are used to provide electricity to InterCity or sleeper wagons on non-electrified tracks, can be distinguished by a blue stripe above the windows.

Sleeping cars

VR operates sleeper services between Helsinki and Turku and Lapland, which also include car-carrying (motorail) wagons. Double-deck sleeping carriages (including rooms with en suite showers and toilets) were introduced on the Helsinki-Rovaniemi service in the 2000s. These wagons are painted in a red-and-white livery similar to the InterCity coaches. Other overnight services (Turku-Rovaniemi and Helsinki-Kolari) are operated by older "blue" sleeper carriages.

Electrification extends from Oulu northwards to Rovaniemi. In 2006, direct sleeper services were discontinued beyond Rovaniemi (to Kemijärvi) because the new double-deck sleeping carriages were unable to operate with diesel haulage. The sleeper service to Kemijärvi was restarted in March 2008, by adding to the train in Rovaniemi a new diesel generator car supplying 1,500 V electricity for the sleeper cars between Rovaniemi and Kemijärvi. Sleeper services between Turku and Joensuu and Helsinki and Kajaani were withdrawn in 2006, but with the new direct line between Lahti and Kerava, the daytime services were made quicker.

On 12 January 2009, VR announced they had requested tenders for the purchase of 20 new sleeping cars, valued at 60–70 million euros. The two bidders interested were Alstom, which manufactures the Pendolino and some commuter trains for VR, and Finnish Transtech, which manufactured VR's new sleeping cars. The decision led to the resignation of the President and CEO of VR-Group, Henri Kuitunen, and the group’s Chairman of the Board, Antti Lagerroos. Helsingin Sanomat reported they had wanted to defer the replacement of older sleeping car rolling-stock until 2012 at the earliest. However, the decision went ahead because VR is a state owned business and there was pressure to seek orders from Finnish Transtech, which is currently struggling due to market downturns, in order to secure jobs.^[14]

Freight wagons

The Finnish loading gauge allows the operation of freight vehicles considerably larger than most other railways in the European Union. Road trailers (often of VR's subsidiary Transpoint) can be easily accommodated on ordinary flat wagons. Much of the freight on the VR network is carried from Russia in Russian wagons, including large capacity eight-axle oil tank wagons.

VR also has a one-third ownership of SeaRail, a specialist operator of freight wagons designed for through running (via ferry) to Sweden and elsewhere in Western Europe.

Multiple units

The Sm3 class Pendolino is the VR's "flagship", mainly connecting largest cities to the capital. Other EMUs in use are the Sm1, Sm2 and Sm4 in Helsinki area commuter services. In addition, VR operates Pääkaupunkiseudun Junakalusto Oy -owned Sm5 class EMUs in Helsinki local traffic and Sm6 Allegro under a joint venture of VR and the Russian railways, Karelian Trains, between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg.

VR currently operates one class of diesel-powered multiple units: the Czech-built single carriage Dm12, which is used mainly on secondary lines.

Multiple unit classification system

The multiple unit classification system follows a similar logic as the locomotive classification system: the first letter signifies the power source (in addition to electric and diesel, gasoline (B, bensiini) and wood gas (P, puukaasu) have been used), followed by the letter m (moottorivaunu) signifyng a multiple unit, followed by a serial number.

Livery

VR has used several liveries in the past. When InterCity traffic started during the 1980s, VR's colour scheme was changed into red and white. In 2009, VR changed its corporate colour into green^[16] and is currently (as of May 2001) repainting most of its rolling stock.

Greenhouse gas emissions

As of June 2009, detailed statistics for VR's greenhouse gas emissions were provided by LIPASTO. On average, in 2007, carbon dioxide-equivalent emissions per passenger-kilometre^[17] were

• Electric, long-distance (intercity): 15g
• Electric, long-distance (pendolino): 25g
• Electric, local traffic: 22g
• Diesel-powered: 77g

See also

• ExpressBus
• Karelian Trains
• Rail transport in Finland
• VR Transpoint

References

Literature

• Alameri, Mikko (1979) (in Finnish, German). Suomen rautatiet. Verlag Josef Otto Slezak. ISBN 3-900134-52-9. 

External links

• VR
• Finnish Rail Administration
• Finnish Railway History Society
• Finnish Railway Museum
• Railway page for Finland (maintained by Kimmo Kotimäki)
• Transtech Oy (Finnish rolling stock manufacturer, formerly Talgo Oy)
• Steam Locomotives in Finland Including the Finnish Railway Museum