VR operates 1.18m long-distance trips in Nov

National railway operator VR operated a total of about 1,188,000 journeys in domestic long-distance traffic in November, which is about 25% more than in November 2021 and 8% less than in November 2019, said VR in a press release on Thursday.

About 2.6 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail in November.

In total, 12 million domestic long-distance journeys were made and 27.4 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail in January–November this year.

“According to the overall trend, people’s mobility in general has decreased recently. This is also reflected in the decrease in our number of journeys, especially for work and business travel. Trains offer a hassle-free way to travel to work or leisure destinations, so I believe that our customers will continue to choose carbon-neutral public transport for their journeys,” said VR’s CEO Elisa Markula.

In November, the volume of domestic VR Transpoint railway transport increased by 13% and international transport decreased by 72% year-on-year.

Domestic roundwood transport, in particular, has seen excellent growth during the autumn, and the transport volumes broke a record in October. The total railway transport volumes decreased in November by 18% year-on-year to 2.6 (3.2) million tonnes. In January–November this year, 27.4 (34.0) million tonnes of goods were transported by rail, which is about 19% less than in the previous year. Eastern freight traffic will be phased out by the end of the year.

“The situation continues to be good in domestic roundwood transport and, for example, we broke another record in October. The need for roundwood in the forest industry grew very quickly, and we were able to work with our customers to quickly reorganise our roundwood system and transport concepts, which has enabled higher transport volumes,” Markula said.

The punctuality of VR’s long-distance traffic in November was 88.4%. Primary delay entries were divided among track-related causes (54%), VR-related causes (24%) and other causes (22%).

The punctuality of VR’s commuter traffic in November was 96.1%. The reasons for delays were divided among other causes (53%), track-related causes (34%) and VR-related causes (13%).

In November, HSL commuter trains were, on average, 43 seconds late. The reasons for delays were divided among other causes (56%), track-related causes (36%) and VR-related causes (8%).