Otso Ikonen has been appointed CEO of VR FleetCare, responsible for the maintenance of rolling stock, and a member of Finnish VR Group's Management Team. He will take up his new role by 15 August 2022.
Otso Ikonen has been appointed CEO of VR FleetCare, responsible for the maintenance of rolling stock, and a member of VR Group's Management Team. He will take up his new role no later than by 15 August 2022.
On 6 April, the Board of Directors of VR Group made a decision to stop freight traffic between Russia and Finland and, on this basis, the company has prepared a plan to shut down traffic, in consultation with customers and taking into account the security of supply. The termination of contracts under the plan has been initiated and the traffic will cease completely by the end of the year at the latest.
Early in the year, VR Group’s business operations were overshadowed by the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, affecting train travel. In addition, VR Transpoint’s transport volumes decreased as a result of domestic industrial action and a decrease in Eastern traffic. The Group’s result fell to a weak level. However, a turn for the better took place towards the end of the quarter when the volumes of VR Passenger Services increased significantly, driven by leisure travel.
On 6th of April, 2022, VR Group’s Board of Directors made the decision to discontinue the Eastern freight traffic in a controlled manner. With this decision, VR Transpoint, which is responsible for the freight traffic, will draw up a traffic rundown plan.
We previously announced that we would be suspending VR Transpoint's eastern freight traffic on 27 March 2022
as a result of the UK’s sanctions against Russian Railways (RZD). However, according to the clarification we have received from the UK authorities, these sanctions do not apply to the VR Group's contracts. VR Transpoint's eastern freight traffic will resume on Wednesday, 30 March.
