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Train Recognition Guide Super High Speed Main Manufacturers European Countries Austria Belgium Denmark Croatia Estonia Finland Gallery Multiple Units Sm6 "Allegro" Sm5 "Flirt" Sm4 "Rabbit" Sm3 "Pendo" Electric Locomotives Sr2 "Guine Pig" Sr1 "Wolf" Diesel Locomotives Dr16 "Big Blonde" Dr14 "Zebra" Dv12 "Deeveri" Organizations Operators and Owners Operator VR-Yhtyma Operator HKL Owner Karelian Trains Owner PKJ Russian Locos in F. Russian Trains in F. France Georgia Germany Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Russia Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom North America		General information on Railways in Finland The old Finnish Main Page can be found here while the refurbishing lasts... Finnish railways have developed much on their own due to geography and politics. The gauge is (almost) Russian, due to common history with Russia at the time when railways in Finland were first started. However, Finns newer preferred Russian built rolling stock, so most were developed and/or license built by Finnish companies. This was a demanding operation, even with licensing arrangements, for companies of a country as small as 5 million people! While Finland now is part of the European Union, a lot of things are changing, though extremely slowly. The following years for the EU member country will probably see the opening of the competition. One of the things that is problematic for this aim is the geography: Finnish rail network with its 1524 mm networks is separated from the rest of the EU members. There has also been plans on building a tunnel under the Finnish gulf for connections south, but so far this tunnel is just in prestudy stage. More information on arrangements of operations and infrastructure...	Created for 4rail.net by Ilkka Siissalo, Stanislav Voronin and John McKey. Pictures by Stanislav Voronin, Ilkka Siissalo and John McKey. Also in this section: Finnish Railroads Main Page, a great place to start browsing this section. Finnish railroad organizations and railroad operators have their own pages, as well as the largest operator VR-Yhtyma and a newcomer to the field Junakalusto. While much of the passenger traffic concentrates around the capital Helsinki, you might be interested in the roster pictures of VR-Yhtyma, Junakalusto and the city of Helsinki operator HKL. HKL operates the metro and narrow gauge trams.
		Finnish High Speed Operations Finland has a respectable 18 unit fleet of 6 car Alstom/Fiat Pendolinos. These high speed tilting trains are operated by VR-Yhtyma, the Finnish State Railways with 100% market share in this segment. It is doubtful if there will be any competiton in this segment any time in the near future, because of the isolation and the gauge differences. Russian railways could compete seriously, but since Russia is not part of the EU, RZD (the Russian Railways) as a apartner to VR-Yhtyma is not a threat to existing operator. Finnish VR-Yhtyma has also pooled efforts with the Russian RZD on international traffic between Helsinki and St Petersburg. A joint venture Karelian Trains has started traffic with four seven car Pendolino type Allegro units. These have dramatically reduced the travel times from 5 - 6 hours to only 3,5 hours. The road connection takes about 4 hours.
		Finland Rolling Stock Classes and Types Multiple Units in Finland... Sm6 EMU of Karelian Trains for long distance... Sm5 EMU of Junakalusto for Helsinki local traffic... Sm4 EMU of VR for Helsinki regional traffic... Sm3 EMU of VR for long distance traffic... Sm2 EMU of VR for Helsinki local traffic... Sm1 Heritage EMU of VR for Helsinki local traffic... Electric Locomotives in Finland Electric Locomotive Sr2 "Guine Pig" Electric Locomotive Sr1 "Wolf" Diesel Locomotives in Finland... Heavy Diesel Switcher Locomotive Dr16 "Big Blonde" Heavy Diesel Switcher Locomotive Dr14 "Zebra" Medium Diesel Multipurpose Locomotive Dv12 "Deeveri"... Russian Locomotives in Finland... Russian Coaches in Finland... Russian Freight Cars in Finland... Types and Classes Page of Finnish Rolling Stock... Types and Classes Page of Finnish Heritage Rolling Stock... Hunting Sr1 Wolfpacks in Finland... - - - Discuss Page at trainorders.com - - -
		Finnish Rail Organizations Because of the long lasted isolation all the Finnish operators come from Finland. Number one is still the state owned VR-yhtyma with 100% market share on passenger transportation and almost 100% share on the freight market. The change is however slowly taking place. Junakalusto Oy of the metropolitan Helsinki cities and VR is going to own a fleet of Flirt-EMUs in the next few years and there are also rumors about small operator start ups on the freight business. Finnish Operator and Owners Page... Finnish Operator and Owner VR-Yhtyma... Fenno-Russian Rollings Stock Owner Karelian Trains... VR-Yhtyma Roster and Technical Info page...
		Helsinki Metropolitan Area Operators and Rolling Stock Owners The only place with high volumes of both passengers and freight to transport in Finland is Helsinki area with its surroundings. Like any other bigger city, Helsinki has a multimodal commuter system. On rails narrow gauge trams add to the capacity of the normal trains. Finnish Train Owner Junakalusto Info and Roster Page... Operator and Owner HKL (City of Helsinki) Info and Roster Page... Operator and Owner VR-Yhtyma Info and Roster Page...





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VR-Yhtyma Sr2 "Guinea Pigs"
Pictures Above and below: The Swiss origins of the Sr2 as part of the Lok2000 program show well on these powerfull beasts. Above the attractive red-white-gray color scheme and below the newest pale "Sallad Green" scheme, that many railfans and railpros dislike. Picture above by John McKey and below by Stanislav Voronin.	The Sr2 number 3239 dorming by the locomotive wash in Ilmala, Helsinki, Finland. This powerhouse originating in the LOK2000 program of Switzerland is used on the most demanding assignments often involving heavy loads with higher speeds. Picture by John McKey.

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