More passengers travel by train in April

About 1,200,000 domestic long-distance journeys were made in April, which is 13% more than the stipulated period in 2022 and about 7% more than in April 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic, said national railway operator VR in a press release on Monday.

In total, 4.62 million domestic long-distance journeys were made by rail in January–April this year.

“The number of journeys in April increased due to everyday travel – business travel in particular increased compared to the beginning of the year. The final days of the VAT discount, which ended at the end of April, as well as Easter and weekend leisure travel also had a positive impact on the number of journeys. In April, the customer experience remained at an all-time high,” said VR's Chief Executive Officer Elisa Markula.

In April, the transport volumes of VR Transpoint’s railway transport were 2.2 million tonnes.

The volumes decreased by 6% year-on-year due to the end of Eastern traffic.

Domestic transport volumes increased by 16%. In January–April this year, 8.0 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail, which is about 20% less than in the previous year.

In April, the punctuality of long-distance trains was at a good level of 90.2% due to well-functioning rolling stock and rail infrastructure.

Primary delay entries were divided between track-related causes (34%), other causes (34%) and VR-related causes (32%).

The punctuality of long-distance traffic in April was weakened by electrical damage to the track at the beginning of the month and vandalism targeted at the track at the end of the month.

The punctuality of VR commuter trains in April was 96.6%. The causes of delays were divided among other causes (51%), track-related causes (39%) and VR-related causes (10%).