More passengers travel by train in Oct but fewer than pre-pandemic level

About 1,299,000 journeys were made by train passengers in domestic long-distance traffic in October 2022, which is about 29% more than in October 2021 and 3% less than in October 2019, said country´s railway operator VR in a press release on Friday.

VR Transpoint’s railway transport volumes were 21% lower in October when compared to last year, with about 2.4 million tonnes of goods transported by rail.

In total, 10.83 million domestic long-distance journeys were made and 24.8 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail in January–October this year.

"Our investments in the development of digital channels have been well received by our customers: The VR Matkalla app has been rated 4.5/5 in app stores and almost 90% of our tickets are already sold through self-service channels. We have also started providing restaurant services to passengers at their seats through the app. The new feature is already in use on some routes and has been well received,” said Topi Simola, Senior Vice President of VR Passenger Services.

In October, the volume of domestic VR Transpoint railway transport increased by 9% and international transport decreased by 73% year-on-year.

The total railway transport volumes decreased in October by 21% year-on-year to 2.4 million tonnes.

In January–October this year, 24.8 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail, which is about 20% less than in the previous year. Eastern freight traffic will be phased out by the end of the year.

The punctuality of long-distance traffic in October was 87%. Primary delay entries were divided between track-related causes (41%), other causes (32%) and VR-related causes (27%).

The punctuality of VR's commuter traffic in October was 94.9%. The reasons for delays were divided among other causes (51%), track-related causes (37%) and VR-related causes (12%).

In October, HSL commuter trains were on average 45 seconds behind schedule. The reasons for delays were divided among other causes (57%), track-related causes (35%) and VR-related causes (8%).

Heavy snowfall and frost can pose challenges to the operation of both the rolling stock and railway systems.