The future of rail transport
We are in favour of more competition. The fastest way to promote competition is to increase regional contract traffic, enable cities and regions to organise and tender regional contract traffic and establish a public contract traffic rolling stock company for publicly funded train traffic. We support the establishment of a rolling stock company for contract traffic.
Long-distance train traffic and freight traffic must be allowed to develop on market terms, which will allow competition to develop freely, in accordance with the free competition model based on EU regulations. That means that customers will have genuine freedom of choice and no public funding will be needed.
Our vision for rail transport in 2030:
- Genuine competition. There are several market-based operators for passenger and freight traffic. New operators have entered the market through calls for tenders for contract traffic.
- Field with multiple actors. Market-based long-distance and freight traffic includes rolling stock owned by operators or leasing companies. There is a separate rolling stock company for publicly financed contract traffic. There are several service providers in the industry, including maintenance, depots and the manufacture of rolling stock.
- Seamless travel chains based on seamless digital collaboration of market-driven door-to-door service operators through commercial agreements.
- A railway network that enables efficient and environmentally friendly traffic. Several railway projects are under construction with the goal of significantly increasing track capacity and speeding up travel times.
- Clear responsibilities for organising traffic. The long-term development of the rail infrastructure and the predictability of development in the industry have increased the attractiveness of the railway market and enabled competition.
VR invests in rolling stock
Over the past ten years, VR has invested almost EUR 1 billion in new rolling stock and the modernisation of existing rolling stock. By 2027, we will be investing approximately EUR 1 billion in rolling stock for Finnish rail transport. In 2025, for example, we will introduce nine new sleeper cars and eight car-carrier wagons. In 2026, we will introduce 20 new commuter trains. Significant rolling stock investments will ensure the continuity of Finnish rail traffic for the coming decades.
New rolling stock
- 20 new commuter trains from 2026
- New sleeper and car-carrier wagons for night-time traffic by 2025
- 60 new diesel locomotives by 2026
- 80 new Sr3 electric locomotives by 2026
Digirail
In 2019, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency and Fintraffic launched the Digirail project in which the current train traffic access control system will be replaced by a modern, radio network-based ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System). The project covers the renewal of the entire operations control and safety system, in other words, automatic train control, interlocking devices, control devices and the radio network in stages between 2026 and 2040.
