VR operates more passengers, fewer goods in Aug

About 1,251,000 journeys were made in domestic long-distance traffic by train in August this year, which is about 49% higher than in August 2021 and 3% more than in August 2019, said the national railway operator VR in a press release on Tuesday.

VR Transpoint’s rail transport volumes, however, were 14% lower in August compared to last year, with about 2.6 million tonnes of goods transported by rail.

In total, 8.32 million domestic long-distance journeys were made and 19.9 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail in January–August this year.

Compared to July, travel increased the most in August between Helsinki and Tampere (+73%), Helsinki and Vaasa (+67%) and Helsinki and Seinäjoki (+61%).

“The number of passengers in August continued the strong upward trend from the spring and summer. Our passengers have clearly chosen train travel as their preferred form of leisure travel. I would like to offer a special thanks to our staff, who have made our passengers’ climate action possible, one journey at a time,” said Topi Simola, VR’s Senior Vice President of Passenger Services.

In August, the volume of domestic rail transport increased by 15% and international transport decreased by 64% year-on-year.

In VR Transpoint’s rail transport, total transport volumes decreased by 14% year-on-year to 2.6 (3.0) million tonnes in August.

In January–August this year, 19.9 (24.7) million tonnes of goods were transported by rail, which is about 19% less than in the previous year. Eastern traffic will be gradually phased out by the end of the year.

In August, punctuality was affected most by track-related issues

In August, delays were largely due to reasons related to the tracks. In particular, problems caused by the track work carried out by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.

The punctuality of long-distance traffic in August was 80%. Primary delay entries were divided among track-related causes (63%), VR-related causes (19%) and other causes (18%).

The punctuality of VR’s commuter traffic in August was 96.1%. The reasons for delays were divided among other causes (43%), track-related causes (42%) and VR-related causes (15%).

The average punctuality of HSL commuter trains continued its excellent development, amounting to 0.58 minutes in August. The reasons for delays were divided among other causes (46%), track-related causes (43%) and VR-related causes (11%).