Number of train passengers rises by 13% in May

About 1,300,000 domestic long-distance journeys were made by train in May, which is about 13% higher than in May 2022 and about 9% more than pre-pandemic level in May 2019, said national railway operator VR in a press release on Wednesday.

The transport volumes of VR Transpoint’s railway transport in May were 2.1 million tonnes, which was 2.5 million tonnes in May 2023. The volumes decreased by 18% year-on-year due to the end of Eastern traffic.

Domestic transport volumes decreased by one per cent in May due to the poor demand in the forest industry. In January–May this year, 10.1 million tonnes of goods were transported by rail, which is about 20% less than in the previous year.

“Despite the end of the VAT rate reduction, the number of journeys grew steadily in May. We hope that more and more people will choose the environmentally friendly alternative and travel by train. We make this possible with dynamic pricing, which allows us to offer cheaper train tickets. We have added plenty of affordable tickets for this summer, so that as many people as possible will choose to travel by train during the summer,” said VR's CEO Elisa Markula.

Due to the rapidly weakened economic outlook and the uncertain market situation in the forest industry, VR started change negotiations in VR's freight traffic concerning the possible need to make work arrangements at the end of May.

The punctuality of long-distance traffic in May was particularly affected by reasons related to tracks

The punctuality of long-distance traffic was 87.1% in May. Primary delay entries were divided between track-related causes (57%), other causes (24%) and VR-related causes (19%). The punctuality of long-distance traffic in May was weakened by track work and speed limits.

The punctuality of VR commuter trains in May was 96.7%. The causes of delays were divided among track-related causes (64%), other causes (28%) and VR-related causes (8%).