Minister: Passenger service on Kerava-Lahti direct line will be last to be reduced

Leena Luhtanen

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Minister for Transport and Communications Leena Luhtanen (SDP) says that the service on the new Kerava-Lahti direct line will be the last to be cut back.
      It would not make any sense to construct a good and fast direct line that benefits commuter traffic, and then leave it without shuttle-type services, she argues.
     
The plan for the Kerava-Lahti direct line is more than one train every hour, Luhtanen says. However, she stresses that this is not a promise - it is just her starting point for talks.
      The construction of the track is now well under way and it is scheduled to be completed in the autumn of 2006. It will then take only 44 minutes to travel from Lahti to Helsinki by train.
      According to previous plans, there was supposed to be at least one commuter train every hour along with the express train services, but the Ministry for Transport and Communications is now calculating that the planned cost cutbacks could reduce the number of commuter trains between Helsinki and Lahti to one every two hours. After all, train services are needed also elsewhere in the country.
     
Various alternatives have been considered, and the aim is to allocate money to a flexible public transport system that will really serve the communities along the new rail line, says Minister Luhtanen.
      If more money is not forthcoming, Luhtanen says that the planned cost cutbacks will not reduce the number of trains on the new track. The ministry will have to examine all alternatives in order to find out if it is possible to reorganise public transport in some other parts of the country where the capacity is not being fully used.
     
Minister Luhtanen wishes to stress the fact that public transport is of the utmost importance in a country like Finland - particularly in the capital region but also in the sparsely inhabited areas. In fact, it is indicated even in the Government programme that "transport infrastructure and services will be developed in order to boost the competitiveness of the country as a whole and the regions within it". Luhtanen emphasised that nobody was going to agree to the madness of reducing services on a brand-new purpose-built link.
      The Government will discuss the budget framework of public transport for 2006 in the national budget talks in March.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Cutbacks threaten to sharply reduce passenger service on new track (17.2.2005)

Links:
  Finnish Rail Administration
  The Programme of the Government of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen

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