A total of 1,150,000 long-distance journeys were made in January
8. February 2023 Press releases
In January, about 1,150,000 domestic long-distance journeys were made, which is almost twice as many as in January 2022 and about 9% more than in January 2019.
“The low ticket prices of the successful VAT campaign boosted demand in January. The beginning of January was still very much part of the holiday season and demand for leisure travel was high. After the holiday season, there has still been plenty of weekend leisure travel and everyday travel has also continued to develop well. I am especially pleased with January’s customer experience survey results. Although the winter weather conditions caused some punctuality challenges, our customers were more satisfied with our punctuality, information during the journey and the condition of the rolling stock than in the previous months. The results of the customer experience survey in January were the best in our measurement history,” says VR’s CEO Elisa Markula.
The railway transport volumes of VR Transpoint decreased in January by 16% year-on-year to 2.1 (2.5) million tonnes due to the end of Eastern traffic. However, domestic railway transport continues to grow and domestic volumes increased by 33% year-on-year in January.
The punctuality of long-distance traffic in January was reduced by winter conditions
The punctuality of long-distance traffic in January was 87.2%. Primary delay entries were divided among VR-related causes (37%), track-related causes (37%) and other causes (26%). The punctuality challenges caused by VR were mainly related to winter conditions. The packing of ice and snow in the rolling stock structures contributed to, among other things, the fact that trains had to operate at reduced speeds.
The punctuality of VR commuter trains in January was 96.0%. The causes of delays were divided among other causes (47%), track-related causes (32%) and VR-related causes (21%).
HSL commuter trains were, on average, 42 seconds late in January. The causes of delays were divided among other causes (58%), track-related causes (30%) and VR-related causes (12%).
