New Kerava-Lahti railway shortens travel times to Eastern Finland by up to one hour

Local services timetable yet to be resolved

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The new rail connection between the cities of Kerava and Lahti scheduled for completion in September 2006 will significantly quicken travel times from Helsinki to destinations in Eastern Finland.
      The timetable changes expected to materialise on September 3rd next year will mark the greatest reform of the Finnish rail transport in decades.
     
Train travel services are set to improve in the entire country, when several new and fast Pendolino and Intercity connections will be introduced at various points of the railway network.
      New, faster train services will target the morning and afternoon peak hour in particular.
      Connections to Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport will improve significantly, when all the Pendolino trains, including those travelling to Russia, will start stopping at Tikkurila, from where there is a bus service to the airport every 10-15 minutes on weekdays.
      Passenger Services director Antti Jaatinen of the national rail company VR promises 45 to 50-minute travel times between Helsinki and Lahti.
     
In September next year, travel times to Helsinki from western cities, such as Tampere and Kouvola, will remain the same, whereas the Pendolino connections between Helsinki and the eastern cities of Joensuu and Kajaani will quicken by up to an hour.
      In January 2007 the remaining parts of the track between Helsinki and Kajaani will be electrified, making them accessible to the Pendolino trains. When that happens, travel times between the two cities will be reduced by up to an hour and a half.
      Jaatinen believes the changes will have a positive impact on VR’s competitiveness, as consumers primarily choose their means of transportation based on travel times.
      "The timetable improvements will translate to a shift towards public transportation from the use of private cars", Jaatinen believes.
     
So far, no decisions have been made to address the frequency of local services on the new route between Kerava and Lahti. Whether there will be one or more local trains per hour depends on the government’s budget decisions.
      Former Minister of Transport and Communications, Leena Luhtanen (SDP) notes that the starting point of the negotiations was that trains would service the new route more than once an hour.
      Commuters along the route expect services every half and hour at least during the rush hour peaks, as they were originally promised.
     
A decision on the local train services on the new route can be expected in January 2006. A rail traffic financing committee is currently discussing the matter, and a motion for a government subsidy model for the outsourcing of transportation services will be issued by the end of the year.
      VR will inform the consumers of the new timetables and ticket prices in January-February 2006. A EUR 60 million investment tax will strain the ticket prices for the next 15 years.
      The tax will cover a fifth of the construction expenses of the new track.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Ministry of Transport to cut unprofitable passenger train routes (25.2.2005)

Helsingin Sanomat