Russian train bombing causes 12-hour delay for Moscow-Helsinki passengers

Tolstoy brings tired passengers to Finland late on Tuesday night

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The Tolstoy express train linking Moscow and Helsinki was still at the station in the Russian capital when the Nevski Ekspress, bound from Moscow to St. Petersburg, was derailed by an explosion near the village of Malaja Visera, some 500 kilometres from Moscow and 170 kilometres from St. Petersburg.
      The accident closed off the main line rail connection between Moscow and St. Petersburg, and hence the Tolstoy had to be re-routed after having left Moscow on Monday evening. As Tolstoy did not on this occasion run all the way to Helsinki, a replacement service - a Finnish InterCity connection - was arranged for the passengers from Kouvola to the Finnish capital, arriving in Helsinki some 12 hours behind schedule.
     
The majority of the passengers were Russian tourists, who took a calm attitude towards the delay. So did Carita Holthoer from Helsinki and Leena Bergenheim from Porvoo, who commented that they could follow the incident on TV.
      "For once we could travel from Moscow to Helsinki in daylight and see the scenery. Normally this train travels overnight", Holthoer noted.
      The passengers commented that the train had been somewhat warm during the unscheduled excursion through the branch-lines of Western Russia, but the restaurant car was air-conditioned, and the staff had been obliging. On arrival in Kouvola, the platform was packed with travellers to Moscow, who had come on the special InterCity train from Helsinki.
     
In the view of Martti Mäkinen, the Director of Corporate Communications of VR-Group Ltd, the incident will not affect the plans of Finnish Railways and Russian Railways to acquire faster trains for the Moscow-St. Petersburg line.
      According to the information gathered by Finnish Railways (VR), a stretch of some 800 metres of electrified track was damaged by the explosion. Mäkinen assumed that the repair work will cause some delays in rail schedules for at least a few days.
     
After considering a number of alternatives, the Russian authorities announced on Tuesday morning that investigations into a terrorist attack have been launched. Two individuals are being sought over suspicions of their having been involved in the bomb attack, which took place at 20:43 Finnish time on Monday.
      The express train, which was travelling at around 190 kilometres an hour, was derailed along most of its length. Some of the 12 carriages were turned on their side.
      Roughly 60 people required medical attention, and 25-30 were taken to hospital. Up to five of them were thought to be in critical condition.


Links:
  Finnish Railways VR

Helsingin Sanomat