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      Train Recognition Guide Super High Speed Main Manufacturers Operators of Europe EU and the Railroading European Countries Austria Belgium Biela Russia Czech Republic Denmark Estonia > Finland Gallery > RR Environment Finnish Timeline Infrastructure High Speed Multiple Units Locomotives Electric Locomotives Diesel Maintenance of the Way Operators & Owners VR-Yhtyma Karelian Trains Junakalusto Organizations VR-Roster Sr1 Wolves Junakalusto Roster HKL Info Russians in Finland History Vintage Multiple Units Vintage Electric Locos Vintage Diesel Locos Tunneling the Gulf "Chicken" Pics Page France Georgia Germany Greece Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Netherlands Norway Poland Portugal Russia Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland Ukraine United Kingdom Other European North America Asia Australia Rest of the World  Timeline Main (News) Timeline History > Timeline High Speed  Pict.Month 2009 - 2010 Pict.Month 2007 - 2008 Unusual RR Pics Gallery Snowfigting Eq. Gallery       | 4rail.net - Finland RR Environment | |
 Finnish railroading environment is one of a kind in several aspects: Geography of Finland Finland is located in the edge of the 5ft gauge and the normal 1435 mm gauge. The difficulty is that while Finland is part of the Western Europe and European Union, the rail connections exist to Russia only. Most of the southern and western borders of Finland is water, effectively blocking access to the rest of the Europe by rail. There have been discussions on boring the tunnels under the Finnish Gulf (Finland - Estonia, both 5 ft gauges) and Botnian Gulf (Åland - Sweden), but this would be an enormous projects for the current Finnish economy without aid from the EU. The tunnels would tighten the relations of Finland with the other member countries.  Picture: Currently the connections are made by Ferries both to Estonia and Sweden. While this is fun in the summer, it is also quite a slow way for travelling. Winters of Finland Geography also plays part with the harsh winters of Finland. During the period, when you hardly can see the sun at all, or if you do, it's low in the horizon, the snow and ice can be very challenging on railway operations and require special skills from the operators, sometimes even these skills don't help.  Operating environment of Finland Even if the two above capters don't discourage the possible new operators, the fact that despite the European Union directives that came into effect at the beginning of the year 2010 (the directives state the conditions for open access for railroads) Finnish authorities gave the only operator VR-yhtyma a monopoly for passenger railroad operations until year 2011. This will enable VR-Yhtyma to invest more on the rolling stock than they could othwerwise do, but severely limits the competitive environment more or less true to all neighboring countries for Finland: Russia, Sweden, Norway and Estonia.   To the Top of the Page | Created for 4rail.net by John McKey. Pictures by Pekka Siiskonen, Ilkka Siissalo, Sanna Siissalo and John McKey.  On super high speed  Super High Speed News provides you the newest happenings and trends in the super fast railroading.  A TGV and AGV Theme Page provides information on these most succesfull super high speed trains. 
 The Virgin Trains Pendolino class 390 is one of the many pendolinos found on the 4rail.net Pendolino page.  It all started from Japan in 1964 with the first bullet train. See what the latest Shinkansens have to offer for the world!  The Eurostars use the Channel Tunnel connect the U.K. to the mainland Europe.  The Chinese CHR program is the most advanced in the world and China will be the world leader in super high speed trains usage in just a few years.  One of the always popular trains is the Russian super high speed test train Sokol. While Sokol was a product in the wrong time period, the Russia today has an impressive high speed program starting.  Maglev of Germany and China starts the new generation of floating on the rail, the new comfort level of travelling! Also on super high speed Super High Speed News provides you the newest happenings and trends in the super fast railroading. A TGV and AGV Theme Page provides information on these most succesfull super high speed trains.
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