Финляндия мемлекеттік теміржол компаниясы VR тобы

State owned railway company in Finland
the Finnish company

VR Group Plc (, VR Group Abp), commonly known as VR, is a government owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long distance and 800 commuter rail services every day. With 7,500 employees and net sales of €1,251 million in 2017, VR is one of the most significant operators in the Finnish public transport market area. VR was created in 1995 after being known as Finlands Statsjärnvägarna, Finnish: Suomen Valtion Rautatiet (Finnish State Railways) from 1862 to 1922, and Valtionrautatiet ('State Railways', Statsjärnvägarna) from 1922 to 1995. As part of the concern, Avecra is a subsidiary for onboard catering service, Pohjolan Liikenne for bus traffic, VR Track for developing and maintaining of infrastructure and VR Transpoint for freight. Since 2017, its headquarters is located at the fi building, previously occupied by the state owned broadcasting company Yle, in northern central Helsinki.

Rail transport started in Finland in 1862 between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, and multiple main lines and smaller private railways were built in the following decades. VR mainly operated on the high demand main lines. During the twentieth century, most private railway companies were shut down and VR assumed a monopoly in rail transport. In 1995 the company went through a process of corporatization to become the VR Group. Since 2010, the maintenance and the construction of the railway 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 and the rail administration entity Ratahallintokeskus.

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 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 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. In the 2010s, VR has made connections faster by reducing stops at minor stations and increasing running speeds with new locomotives and renovated high speed trains. VR provides car transport services. Cars can be loaded onto and unloaded from trains at seven stations: 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 and is available as daily service to Rovaniemi and Kemijärvi and several times a week to Kolari. Finland is the only Nordic country to offer car transport on trains; however, car transport on trains is available in many European countries outside the Nordic countries. In August 2021 VR began operating the Tampere light rail. In March 2022, VR acquired the Swedish bus and rail company Arriva Sverige, which operates urban transport in Stockholm and regional transport in southern and southeastern Sweden. Arriva Sverige was part of Arriva Group and owned by Deutsche Bahn. Following the acquisition, it was announced that Arriva Sverige would become an independent company within the VR Group.

VR operates the commuter traffic in the Helsinki area on behalf of HSL and its own commuter rail services in southern Finland.

There are plans to open a new passenger rail service between Finland and Sweden in the end of 2024, between Haparanda in northern Sweden and Helsinki. The cross border railway will be electrified according to Finnish standards by then. Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, VR operated jointly with Russian Railways a passenger rail service named Allegro between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg. However due to proposed sanctions towards Russia, all passenger rail traffic between Finland and Russia has been suspended in March 2022, and the rolling stock has since been parked. These trains were in late 2023 taken over by VR, and are planned to be used in domestic traffic in Finland beginning 2025. If and when the proposed Helsinki Tallinn tunnel is built, trains may be run by VR, the Estonian railways or a joint venture similar to the former arrangement with Russia.

Domestic and international freight services are provided by VR Transpoint, part of VR. In 2009, both domestic and international freight traffic declined, which worsened VR's financial position. 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. Formerly, even rail ferry connections from Turku to Stockholm, Sweden, and to Travemünde, Germany has existed.

VR operated steam locomotives until 1975. Although the regular use of steam traction for scheduled passenger services ended in 1970, 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 2015–25. On 20 December 2013, VR announced plans to purchase 80 new electric locomotives, with 97 options. This upcoming Sr3 will be based on the Siemens Vectron and will replace the aging Sr1's. The locomotives will be fitted with helper diesel engines that can be used for shunting in partly unelectrified railyards. Deliveries will occur between 2017 and 2026.

VR operates sleeper services between Helsinki/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 green and white livery similar to the InterCity coaches. Since 2016, the new coaches have begun to replace the blue carriages even on the way to Kolari. Electrification extends from Oulu northwards to Kemijärvi. 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; this setup was continued in use until the electrification extension to Kemijärvi was completed at the end of 2013. 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. 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.

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.

The Sm3 class Pendolino is the VR's "flagship", mainly connecting largest cities to the capital with top running speed up to 220 km/h. Other EMUs in use are the Sm2 and Sm4 on commuter rail services. In addition, VR operates Pääkaupunkiseudun Junakalusto Oy owned Sm5 class EMUs in Helsinki local traffic. VR currently operates one class of diesel powered multiple units: the Czech built single carriage Dm12, which is used mainly on secondary lines. + Multiple units in use by the VR Class No. in use Years of manufacture Max. speed Notes Sm2 50 1975–81 120 km/h EMU consists of an Sm2 car and an Eioc class car Sm3 18 sets 1992–2006 220 km/h Tilting high speed Pendolino train. Runs on domestic routes. Sm4 60 (30 sets) 1998–2005 160 km/h EMU consists of two Sm4 units Sm5 812008–2017 160 km/h EMU consists of one four section Sm5 unit. Sm5 units are owned by Pääkaupunkiseudun Junakalusto Oy and are operated by VR on Helsinki Commuter Rail services. Dm12 16 2004–06 120 km/h Single carriage diesel units

+ Former multiple units used by the VR Class Total count Years of manufacture Withdrawn from service Max. speed Notes Sm1 50 1968–73 2016 120 km/h EMU consists of an Sm1 car and an Eio class car Sm6 4 2010–11 2022 220 km/h Former Allegro train, a tilting high speed Pendolino train. To be re introduced into long distance service in 2025.

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.

VR has used several liveries in the past. When InterCity traffic started during the 1980s, VR's colour scheme was changed to red and white. In 2009, VR changed its corporate colour to green and all the coaches have been repainted in green and white.