Karhula-Sunila RailroadKarhula-Sunila Railroad (KSR)(Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Oy)Karhula-Sunila Railroad (KSR) or in Finnish: Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Oy (formerly Karhulan Rautatie) is the only private railway company in Finland that operates commercial rail traffic on a six-kilometre railway line owned by it. The track gauge of the railway is the same as that of the rest of Finland's rail network, i.e. 1,524 millimetres. KSR has interconnections with VR. The connecting station is the Kymi railway station of the Finnish rail network. The company was founded in 1937. The railway network owned by the company is located in the area of the city of Kotka and extends from Kymi station to the districts of Karhula and Sunila. Previously, the railway also extended to the island of Halla, where a sawmill and the Halla pulp mill operated. The railway bridge to Halla was demolished in 2019. The company's share capital is owned by Sunila Oy, a pulp manufacturing company fully owned by Stora Enso Oyj in the Sunila district of Kotka. Karhula-Sunila Railroad History The Karhula Railway between Karhula and Kymi was built by Karhula Osakeyhtiö, which had factories in Karhulanniemi and Korkeakoski in Kymi. The railroad was completed in 1897, but was not officially opened to public transport until May 3, 1900. Initially, the railway was narrow gauge with a track gauge of 785 mm. The length of the track at the beginning of 1915 was 7.33 km. The railway was converted to broad gauge in 1926. Karhulan Osakeyhtiö was acquired by A. Ahlström Osakeyhtiö in 1915. The railway and its traffic continued within the factories until 1965. The line had world war 2 reparations to pay. A locomotive was built as an additional training workpiece from 1950 onwards. With the help of parts supplied by Saalasti Oy, the locomotive was converted to broad gauge at the company's workshop and served the company until its scrapping. For the last few years, it was used by a mineral wool factory in Ruukki. The locomotive was scrapped in Vaasa around 1979. Since then, the company has had several broad gauge locomotives, the most significant of these is the Move 90 industrial locomotive built on the chassis and body of the Dv12 line locomotive. Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Locomotives and Equipment KSR owns the following locomotives:
There are several level crossings on the Karhula railway, most of which are unguarded, and when coming from the direction of Kymi, the first level crossing is Mäenpääntie at kilometre 233+594. The only guarded level crossing on the line in a public location is Pajatie, which is equipped differently from the level crossings of the State Railway. In the Stora Enso area of Sunila, there are two guarded level crossings, one of which is located on Sunilantie. Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Overview Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Basic Route: Kymi–Sunila Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Transport Operator(s): KSR Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Specifications: Length 6 km Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Number of Tracks: 1 Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Track Width: 1,524 mm Karhulan–Sunilan Rautatie Electrification: No | |||||
| |||||
