On the right track
RHK is continuously updating, upgrading and improving the 5,919 kilometres of track that forms FinlandÔÇÖs railway network. Becky Done found out what plans are in place to keep up with the growth in freight and passenger traffic.
Operating under the jurisdiction of FinlandÔÇÖs Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Finnish Rail Administration (RHK) is the body charged with the management and development of Finland's rail network. ÔÇ£WeÔÇÖre responsible for the maintenance of railways and investment, as well as the traffic management,ÔÇØ explains RHKÔÇÖs investment director, Kari Ruohonen.
RHK contracts out track maintenance and construction work as well as real estate management; meanwhile, RHK's Traffic Management Centre monitors the flow of rail traffic.
Relatively small compared with its European counterparts, RHK employs around 130 people, the majority of them fully-qualified rail engineers, from its headquarters in FinlandÔÇÖs capital city of Helsinki. Being a sparsely populated country, much of the railway network is focused around Helsinki, which is where the majority of improvement works are currently being carried out.
The most significant of these is the development of a high-speed railway line from Helsinki to St. Petersburg in Russia, due to open in summer 2010. ÔÇ£The trainÔÇÖs speed will be about 200 kilometres per hour,ÔÇØ explains Ruohonen, ÔÇ£and the time from Helsinki to St. Petersburg will be three-and-a-half hours. ItÔÇÖs a major project in Finland and they are doing similar work on the Russian side.ÔÇØ
Passenger numbers between Finland and Russia are already on the increase year by year. This is partly due to the inauguration of a direct line from Kerava to Lahti in 2006, which increased rail capacity to both eastern Finland and Russia. Arguably one of the most significant railway projects in Finland for over 20 years, the direct line forms part of the Nordic Triangle, a transport network that links the capital cities of the Nordic countries and provides channels between EU member states. It is one of the 30 TEN (Trans-European Transport Networks) priority projects in the EU.
The maximum speed on this direct line is 220 kilometres per hour for tilting trains and 200 kilometres per hour for other passenger trains. The project cost around Ôé¼331 million, of which the EU provided Ôé¼20 million. Thanks in part to improvements like this, passenger numbers on the Helsinki to St. Petersburg line are expected to triple within five years following the introduction of the service. In the initial phase, three scheduled trains will operate in each direction daily, with the number later increasing to four per day.
In 2008, passenger traffic on FinlandÔÇÖs rail network totalled 69.9 million journeys, comprising 56.2 million in commuter traffic and 13.8 million in long-distance traffic, representing a rise of five per cent in commuter traffic and about six per cent in long-distance traffic compared with the year before. Last year, the volume of rail freight totalled 41.9 million tonnes, or four per cent more than the year before. Domestic freight traffic totalled 25.5 million tonnes, down three per cent compared with the year before; however, freight traffic between Finland and Russia totalled 11.2 million tonnesÔÇöa rise of 13 per cent.
ÔÇ£Rail is very important in freight transport. For personal travel itÔÇÖs not so popular but it is still growing every yearÔÇörail is a very important part of the overall traffic system here,ÔÇØ asserts Ruohonen.
RHK is constantly working to support this rise in traffic; with this in mind, a rail link has now been provided to Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, which it is hoped will increase the popularity of rail transport within Finland still further. ÔÇ£The investment on the airport project was about Ôé¼600 million,ÔÇØ states Ruohonen.
In addition, further major investments will be required to upgrade much of FinlandÔÇÖs single track lines to multi-track. ÔÇ£In Finland the problem is that 90 per cent of our railways are single track,ÔÇØ explains Ruohonen. ÔÇ£Traffic is increasing so itÔÇÖs very important that we have more tracks. In many cases, the only way to get somewhere is via a single track, so there will be big investments into that.ÔÇØ
In 2008, RHK participated in a major organisational reform together with the Finnish Road Administration and the Finnish Maritime Administration, on the basis of each agency merging to form a new, larger agency. Another agency responsible for transport safety was established in 2007, which will remove this task from RHKÔÇÖs remit. The intention is for the new agencies to start operating at the start of next year to implement transport policy in a more coherent way, thus improving the service for all users.
ÔÇ£The most important change will be traffic system planning,ÔÇØ explains Ruohonen. It is hoped that the merger will facilitate a more integrated and co-ordinated approach to this aspect of traffic management. One example of this is the improvement of roads to and from new railway stationsÔÇöfor example, the station at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. ÔÇ£With the railway to the airport, money for roads was included in the same project,ÔÇØ explains Ruohonen. ÔÇ£We had about Ôé¼600 million for the airport project, out of which Ôé¼100 million was for improvements to roads. The idea is to have all construction projects like that, so that the system works better, and is more integrated.ÔÇØ
Two other important development projects currently underway are the renewal of the Ilmala railway yard in Helsinki, as well as the upgrade of the Seinäjoki-Oulu and Lahti-Vainikkala lines. Sections of both lines are to be completely renewed, which will allow the maximum speed and axle load to be increased.
In addition, another current priority for RHK is the development and improvement of its passenger information systems. ÔÇ£This is so our customers will have better informationÔÇöwe will have improved systems in place so that passenger information after one year will be much better than it is now,ÔÇØ says Ruohonen.
