1.
VR Group
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VR or VR Group is a state-owned railway company in Finland. Formerly known as Suomen Valtion Rautatiet until 1922 and Valtionrautatiet / Statsjärnvägarna until 1995 and its most important function is the operation of freight and passenger rail services. Since 2010, the maintenance and the construction of the network have been the responsibility of the Finnish Transport Agency. 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. Rail transport started in Finland in 1862, and multiple main lines were built at the end of the nineteenth, Valtion Rautatiet operated mainly on the bigger and longer main lines. During the twentieth century, most private companies were shut down. In 1995 the company was privatised into VR group, 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, because in most parts of Finland the density of population is low, Finland is not optimally suited for railways. Commuter services are rare outside the Helsinki area, but express trains interconnect most cities. As in France, the majority of services are connections to the capital. Seven stations allow loading and unloading of cars on trains, Helsinki, Turku and Tampere in the south, Oulu further north, car transport trains stop at other stations along the way for normal passenger transport. Finland is the only Nordic country to offer car transport on trains, however, car transport on trains is available on many European countries outside the Nordic countries. VR runs commuter traffic in the Helsinki area, 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, on 29 May 2011, Allegro traffic increased from two to four trains per day in each direction. The tracks on the Helsinki – Saint Petersburg line were upgraded to enable a higher running speed before the Allegro started its service, 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 Groups financial position, 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 locomotives and three classes of diesel locomotives. The use of locomotive hauled passenger trains has declined due to electrification of all main lines
2.
Finland
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Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a sovereign state in Northern Europe. A peninsula with the Gulf of Finland to the south and the Gulf of Bothnia to the west, the country has borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north. Estonia is south of the country across the Gulf of Finland, Finland is a Nordic country situated in the geographical region of Fennoscandia, which also includes Scandinavia. Finlands population is 5.5 million, and the majority of the population is concentrated in the southern region,88. 7% of the population is Finnish people who speak Finnish, a Uralic language unrelated to the Scandinavian languages, the second major group are the Finland-Swedes. In terms of area, it is the eighth largest country in Europe, Finland is a parliamentary republic with a central government based in the capital Helsinki, local governments in 311 municipalities, and an autonomous region, the Åland Islands. Over 1.4 million people live in the Greater Helsinki metropolitan area, from the late 12th century, Finland was an integral part of Sweden, a legacy reflected in the prevalence of the Swedish language and its official status. In the spirit of the notion of Adolf Ivar Arwidsson, we are not Swedes, we do not want to become Russians, let us therefore be Finns, nevertheless, in 1809, Finland was incorporated into the Russian Empire as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. In 1906, Finland became the nation in the world to give the right to vote to all adult citizens. Following the 1917 Russian Revolution, Finland declared itself independent, in 1918, the fledgling state was divided by civil war, with the Bolshevik-leaning Reds supported by the equally new Soviet Russia, fighting the Whites, supported by the German Empire. After a brief attempt to establish a kingdom, the became a republic. During World War II, the Soviet Union sought repeatedly to occupy Finland, with Finland losing parts of Karelia, Salla and Kuusamo, Petsamo and some islands, Finland joined the United Nations in 1955 and established an official policy of neutrality. The Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 gave the Soviet Union some leverage in Finnish domestic politics during the Cold War era, Finland was a relative latecomer to industrialization, remaining a largely agrarian country until the 1950s. It rapidly developed an advanced economy while building an extensive Nordic-style welfare state, resulting in widespread prosperity, however, Finnish GDP growth has been negative in 2012–2014, with a preceding nadir of −8% in 2009. Finland is a top performer in numerous metrics of national performance, including education, economic competitiveness, civil liberties, quality of life, a large majority of Finns are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, though freedom of religion is guaranteed under the Finnish Constitution. The first known appearance of the name Finland is thought to be on three rune-stones. Two were found in the Swedish province of Uppland and have the inscription finlonti, the third was found in Gotland, in the Baltic Sea. It has the inscription finlandi and dates from the 13th century, the name can be assumed to be related to the tribe name Finns, which is mentioned first known time AD98. The name Suomi has uncertain origins, but a candidate for a source is the Proto-Baltic word *źemē, in addition to the close relatives of Finnish, this name is also used in the Baltic languages Latvian and Lithuanian
3.
Helsinki Central Station
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Helsinki Central railway station is a widely recognised landmark in Kluuvi, part of central Helsinki, Finland, and the focal point of public transport in the Greater Helsinki area. The station is used by approximately 200,000 passengers per day and it serves as the point of origin for all trains in the local VR commuter rail network, as well as for a large proportion of long-distance trains in Finland. The station also hosts the Rautatientori metro station, which is the busiest station of the Helsinki Metro, on 7 June 2010, the station was officially renamed Helsingin päärautatieasema-Helsingfors centralstation, replacing the previous official name Helsingin rautatieasema-Helsingfors järnvägsstation. The Finnish transport bureau use Helsinki C as a shorthand, the Turku Central railway station was renamed in a similar manner. The station building was designed by Eliel Saarinen and inaugurated in 1919 and it was chosen as one of the worlds most beautiful railway stations by BBC in 2013. There are 19 platforms at the station, platforms 1–3 are on the east side and serve local trains on the Tikkurila route, their tracks stop short of the main station roof. Platforms 4–11 in the centre of the station are the platforms for longer-distance trains which stretch down to terminate in front of the main station building. Platforms 5–10 serve trains running via Tikkurila to Tampere, St Petersburg and other north and east. Platforms 12–19 are on the west side and serve local trains on the Espoo and Vantaankoski routes, the central railway station serves as a central hub for Finnish transport. There are many platforms for local buses on both the west and the east sides of the station building. The majority of Helsinkis tram routes pass in front of or to the west of the station, the Helsinki central bus station is located at Kamppi Center, about 400 m, or one metro stop, to the west of the railway station. The main maintenance area for the Finnish Railways is located in the fork between the Espoo and the Tikkurila lines, just north of the Pasila station, the loading point for cars onto car-carrying trains has been moved from the central railway station to the Pasila station. The old steam locomotive roundhouse facility still stands just to the south of Pasila station and is used for various functions, the first railway station in Helsinki was built in 1860, as Finlands first railway between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna was opened. The stations plans were drawn by the Swedish architect Carl Albert Edelfelt, however, as the popularity of railways grew, the station turned out to be too small, and a contest was organised in 1904 with the intention of producing plans for a new station. Saarinen himself abandoned romanticism altogether and re-designed the station completely, the new design was finished in 1909 and the station was opened in 1919. President of Finland Kyösti Kallio died at the station on 19 December 1940 of a heart attack, legend says he died in the arms of Marshal Mannerheim. The clock tower side of the station was damaged in a fire on 14 June 1950, in the 1960s, the underground Asematunneli pedestrian underpass and underground shopping centre complex was built south of the station. The first surveillance cameras in the hall were installed in the spring of 1968
4.
Helsinki commuter rail
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Helsinki commuter rail is the commuter rail system serving Greater Helsinki, Finland. The network is part of the HSL network, and is operated by VR, together with the Helsinki Metro, buses, and trams, the network forms the heart of Helsinkis public transportation infrastructure. Trains run primarily above ground in the Helsinki metropolitan area, within the municipalities of Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, and Vantaa, the system uses tickets that are interchangeable with the bus, metro, and tram networks managed by HSL. Traveling beyond Kerava and Kirkkonummi uses VR commuter tickets, which are sold in zones from A to H, the HSL-zone is completely within VR zones A, B, and C. The network is composed of 14 separate services, pictured in the map below. They operate on all four branches of the lines that begin at the Helsinki Central railway station. The system has a total of 52 stations,14 of which are within the city of Helsinki, there are about 676 departures every weekday. The commuter rail services carried a total 55.1 million passengers in 2011, in the Helsinki region, local train services have existed since the 1880s. At first, it was offered on the Main Line up to Rekola railway station, the Coastal Line was finished in 1903. This line was mostly with commuter traffic in mind, so immediately. During the steam era, local traffic was handled with locomotives like the Pr1. The amount of trips increased vastly after Finland gained independence in 1917, the depression of the 1930s hit the commuter traveling, and there were only 3 million trips at the lowest. By 1939, the amount of trips had risen back to 4 million, during the short diesel locomotive era from the end of the 1950s to the beginning of the 1970s, commuter services used DMUs of classes Dm7, Dm8, and Dm9. The tracks were not upgraded significantly during steam or diesel eras, both the Main Line and the beginning of the Coastal Line up to Kirkkonummi had only dual tracks to accommodate long-distance, freight, and commuter trains. The Coastal Line is still single track between Kirkkonummi and Turku. Current operation started to get its shape in 1969 when the first stretch, route designation letters were introduced on 28 May 1972. In the same year, the commuter routes were completely electrified. The third track was extended to Kerava in 1981, the railway branch from Huopalahti to Martinlaakso, opened in 1975, was built exclusively for commuter trains, being first such line in Finland
Media related to Hyvinkää railway station at Wikimedia Commons
