VR sees more long-distance passengers in March

About 1.25 million journeys were made by train in long-distance traffic in Finland in March, showing a year-on-year increase of 19%, said national railway operator VR in a press release on Wednesday.

Growth was driven especially by Easter, which fell at the end of March.

"In March, we were able to return to normal traffic following the track damage that occurred in February. The growth in passenger volumes in long-distance traffic was also driven by Easter, during which many people travelled to, for example, the north to enjoy the spring snow,” said Elisa Markula, Chief Executive Officer of VR.

The volume of goods transported by rail was about 1.0 million tonnes in March.

In January–March this year, 4.7 (5.9) million tonnes of goods were transported by rail, which is about 20% less than in the previous year.

The four-week political strike had a significant impact on freight traffic volumes.

In March, 83.8% of long-distance trains ran on time, when punctuality is measured with an accuracy of 5 minutes.

The majority of the delays, about 47%, were due to causes related to the railway managed by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, while 30% were due to VR and 23% due to other reasons.

The punctuality of long-distance trains was negatively affected by temporary speed limits in particular.

The punctuality of VR commuter trains in March was 97%. The causes of delays were divided among track-related causes (48%), other causes (35%) and VR-related causes (16%).

The occupancy rate of long-distance train customer seats was 45% in January–March (46% in 2023).

"The occupancy rate of long-distance train customer seats in 2023 was 48%, which means that, on average, half of the long-distance train seats were not sold, although some of the services were sold out on the most popular routes during peak hours. Our aim is to influence the occupancy rate of trains through pricing that guides customers to buy tickets for less busy services. The increase in journey volumes in 2023 shows that the pricing reform has worked," Markula said.