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4rail.net - Reference - Finland - Railway History | |
 Finnish railways history starts in mid 1800's, 2 generations later than in most of the Central European countries. However judging the country back then was poor, and an yet unindustrilized territory of Russia, the achievement of making a decision on the construction of the first stretch in Southern Finland was quite substancial at the time. Much of the Finnish area of Russia was covered with waterways in early 1800's, as elsewhere in Europe. These channels, lakes and rivers served the transportation of the export and import goods. Connecting the southern coast with the inland waterways proved to be a challenge and in 1849 Claes Alfred Stjernvall suggested an investigation on "rail track way" between Turkhauta and Helsinki (capital of Finland). The track was intended to be 96 kilometers long with one train either way each day. If necessary, there could be more traffic, with double tracks in the middle to allow trains to pass. For a poor country this plan seemed at first appropriate. As with all railways at the time, comparisons with horse and iron horse operations were "mandatory". Lars von Haartman continued investigations. After numerous discussions the decision to build an iron horse railway between Hämeenlinna and Helsinki was finally reached in 1857. The railway was opened for traffic in January 31st 1862.  To the top of the page
 Finnish reference main page
Sources: Höyryllä Hämeeseen, the web, other sources |
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