VR Group

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses of "VR", see VR (disambiguation).

VR or VR Group (VR-Yhtymä) is a state-owned railway company in Finland, and formerly known as Valtionrautatiet (The State's Railway). Its most important function is the operation of freight and passenger rail services. Maintenance and construction of the railway network itself is the responsibility of the Finnish Rail Administration (Ratahallintokeskus - RHK). Both operation and network were originally handled by the parent company Valtionrautatiet, which split into the two current ones.

Companies in the VR group also provide road freight and bus services, carry out catering activities 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 Transpoint.

Finnish trains are spacious, comfortable and clean. The scenery among the lines is beautiful, especially in Eastern Finland where there are very many lakes. Because in most parts of Finland density of population is low, Finland is not very well suited for railways. Commuter services are nowadays rare outside Helsinki area, but there are express train connections between most of the cities. As in France, most trains are coming or going to the capital city Helsinki. In addition there are also good ExpressBus and aeroplane connections, both of which are generally little or a lot more expensive than trains. Buses are sometimes faster and/or cheaper than trains (e.g. Helsinki-Pori).

The only international passenger rail services from Finland are to Russia. There are two passenger trains a day to St Petersburg, called Sibelius and Repin, and one overnight train to Moscow via St Petersburg called Tolstoi. There are plans to modernise the tracks between Finland and Russia to enable them to support higher speed Pendolino trains. In addition to passenger traffic, there is regular freight traffic between Finland and Russia. Domestic freight services are provided by VR Cargo, part of VR Group.

Altogether the group of companies includes 21 companies employing a total of about 14,400 persons. The President and CEO of the VR group of companies is Henri Kuitunen.

1 History
2 Travel time and speed
3 Pendolino
- 3.1 Pendolino routes
4 Commuter traffic in Helsinki area
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] History

The Finnish State Railways was founded by the Senate of Finland in 1862, when Finland was a Grand Principality under Imperial Russia, and was built to the broader Russian track gauge (1524 mm, i.e. 5 ft. exactly), rather than to the Western European standard gauge of 1435 mm. In the coming decades the company incorporated many private Finnish railroads, such as the Hanko-Hyvinkää Railroad, and several others. The Finnish Railway Museum is also the official company museum.

[edit] Travel time and speed

Travel time and speed by fastest train connections from/to Helsinki after 3 September 2006.

City	Travel time (hh:mm)	In future (hh:mm)	Average speed	Train(s)
Hämeenlinna (108 km)	0:58	0:50-0:55	111.7 km/h	InterCity 60
Iisalmi (524 km)	4:51	4:30	108.0 km/h	Pendolino 79
Joensuu (482 km)	4:17	3:25-3:35	112.5 km/h	Pendolino 7
Jyväskylä (342 km)	2:50	2:30-2:40	120.7 km/h	Pendolino 81
Kajaani (607 km)	6:40	5:35	91.0 km/h	Pendolino 79 and bus connection
Kotka (217 km)	2:14	2:00-2:10	97.2 km/h	Pendolino 1 and local train 722
Kouvola (166 km)	1:23	1:10-1:15	120.0 km/h	Pendolino 1
Kuopio (439 km)	3:52	4:30	113.5 km/h	Pendolino 79
Lahti (104 km)	0:48	0:44	96,3 km/h	Pendolino 1
Lappeenranta (252 km)	2:09	2:00-2:05	117.2 km/h	Pendolino 1
Mikkeli (279 km)	2:26	2:05-2:10	114.7 km/h	Pendolino 70
Moscow (Leningradski vokz.) (1091 km)	12:58	10:00	84.1 km/h	Express train 31 "Tolstoi"
Oulu (680 km)	5:41	4:20-4:40	119.6 km/h	Pendolino 46
Pori (322 km)	3:02	2:20-2:30	106.2 km/h	Pendolino 93 and local train 475
Rovaniemi (900 km)	8:17	6:50-7:10	108.7 km/h	Express train 406 and Pendolino 56
Saint Petersburg (Finl. vokz.) (417 km)	5:06	3:00-3:20	81.8 km/h	Express train 35 "Sibelius"
Seinäjoki (346 km)	2:39	2:10-2:20	130.6 km/h	Pendolino 45
Tampere (187 km)	1:23	1:15-1:20	135.2 km/h	Pendolino 81
Turku (194 km)	1:44	1:22-1:35	111.9 km/h	Pendolino 126
Vaasa (420 km)	3:39	3:30-3:35	115.1 km/h	Local train 440 and Pendolino 42

[edit] Pendolino

Image:Pendolino between Helsinki and Turku.jpg

Pendolino is the name given to VR's premier passenger trains. They are high-speed tilting trains which operate at average speeds of 120–220 km/h (the highest speed ever reached by a Pendolino is 248 km/h). The trains themselves are distinguished in Finnish railway timetables by the letter S.

The Pendolino system was chosen at the beginning of the 1990s because of the twisting nature of a great many of the country's rail routes. Building trains that could ensure passenger comfort at high speed on these routes by tilting through the curves was a much cheaper solution than reconstructing the railway network itself.

Thanks to its tilting mechanism, the Pendolino – unlike such other European high-speed trains as the TGV, Thalys, and AVE – does not need to run on specialised high-speed lines; instead, it runs on existing lines. This has both beneficial and negative consequences. The trains cannot run at as high a speed as, for example, the TGV, due to the lines. However, the Pendolino can also run alongside 'standard' trains, allowing for greater use of the railway. Also, building high-speed lines costs a lot more, which makes them uneconomical due to Finland's low population and long distances. Despite its relatively low speeds for a high-speed network, the Pendolino has been successful due to the fact that it connects many Finnish cities and towns, similar to the TGV, which spans a large number of major cities in France.

The Pendolino is a premium facility train. There are audio sockets for radio and music channels, as well as headphones. In some seats, there are also electricity sockets for laptop and mobile phones. There is a bistro on board that serves snack bar-style dishes. In Business Plus Class (1st class), there is personal service and a complimentary meal, similar to airline service.

[edit] Pendolino routes

The Pendolino fast train network radiates out from Helsinki. The following destinations are served (the list includes the changes which will follow opening of the new high-speed line from Kerava to Lahti on 3 September 2006):