VR Group (VR-Yhtymä Oyj)

VR Group

VR-Group Plc or in Finnish: VR-Yhtymä Oyj, in Swedish: VR-Group Abp), commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 commuter rail services every day. With 7,500 employees and net sales of €1,251 million in 2017, VR is one of the most significant operators in the Finnish public transport market area.

VR was created in 1995 after being known as Swedish: Finlands Statsjärnvägarna, Finnish: Suomen Valtion Rautatiet (Finnish State Railways) from 1862 to 1922, and Valtionrautatiet ('State Railways', Swedish: Statsjärnvägarna) from 1922 to 1995.

As part of the concern, Avecra is a subsidiary for onboard catering service, Pohjolan Liikenne for bus traffic, VR Track for developing and maintaining of infrastructure and VR Transpoint for freight. Since 2017, its headquarters is located at the Iso Paja building, previously occupied by the state-owned broadcasting company Yle, in northern-central Helsinki.

VR Group History

Rail Transport started in Finland in 1862 between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna, and multiple main lines and smaller private railways were built in the following decades. VR mainly operated on the high-demand main lines. During the twentieth century, most private railway companies were shut down and VR assumed a monopoly in rail transport. In 1995 the company went through a process of corporatization to become the VR Group.

Since 2010, the maintenance and the construction of the railway network have been the responsibility of the Finnish Transport Agency (Finnish: Liikennevirasto). The operation and network were originally carried out by the parent company Valtionrautatiet until 1995, when it was split into VR and the rail administration entity Ratahallintokeskus.

VR Group Organisation

Companies in the group provide road freight and bus services, catering and real estate management, and provide data, technological, and telecommunications services for the transport and logistics sectors. The group owns a bus company, Pohjolan Liikenne, and a road freight haulage company VR Transpoint.

Altogether the group includes 21 companies employing a total of about 14,400 people.

VR Group Services

Because in most parts of Finland the density of population is low, Finland is not optimally suited for railways. Commuter services are nowadays rare outside the Helsinki area, but express trains interconnect most cities. As in France, the majority of passenger services are connections to the capital, Helsinki. In the 2010s, VR has made connections faster by reducing stops at minor stations and increasing running speeds with new locomotives and renovated high-speed trains.

VR provides car transport services. Cars can be loaded onto and unloaded from trains at seven stations: Helsinkii, Turku and Tampere in the south, Oulu further north, and Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi and Kolari in Lapland. Car transport trains stop at other stations along the way for normal passenger transport and is available as daily service to Rovaniemi and Kemijärvi and several times a week to Kolari. Finland is the only Nordic country to offer car transport on trains, however, car transport on trains is available in many European countries outside the Nordic countries. In August 2021 VR began operating the Tampere Light Rail.

In March 2022, VR acquired the Swedish bus and rail company Arriva Sverige, which operates urban transport in Stockholm and regional transport in southern and southeastern Sweden. Arriva Sverige was part of Arriva Group and owned by Deutsche Bahn. Following the acquisition, it was announced that Arriva Sverige would become an independent company within the VR Group.

VR Group Commuter Rail

VR operates the commuter traffic in the Helsinki area on behalf of HSL and its own commuter rail services in southern Finland.

VR Group International Services

There are plans to open a new passenger rail service between Finland and Sweden in the end of 2024, between Haparanda in northern Sweden and Helsinki. The cross-border railway will be electrified according to Finnish standards by then.

Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, VR operated jointly with Russian Railways a passenger rail service named Allegro between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg. However due to proposed sanctions towards Russia, all passenger rail traffic between Finland and Russia has been suspended in March 2022, and the rolling stock has since been parked. These trains were in late 2023 taken over by VR, and are planned to be used in domestic traffic in Finland beginning 2025.

If and when the proposed Helsinki-Tallinn Tunnel is built, trains may be run by VR, the Estonian railways or a joint-venture similar to the former arrangement with Russia.

VR Group Freight

Domestic and international freight services are provided by VR Transpoint, part of VR. In 2009, both domestic and international freight traffic declined, which worsened VR's financial position. International freight traffic is concentrated to the four railways across the Russian border but there is also a connection to the Swedish rail network in Tornio. Formerly, even rail ferry connections from Turku to Stockholm, Sweden, and to Travemünde, Germany has existed.

VR Group Overview

VR Group Native Name: VR-Yhtymä Oyj/VR-Group Abp
VR Group Formerly:
Suomen Valtion Rautatiet
Valtionrautatiet
VR Group Company Type: Public (julkinen osakeyhtiö)
VR Group Industry: Rail Transport
VR Group Locale: Finland
VR Group Track Gauge: 1,524 mm (5 ft) Broad gauge
VR Group Founded: 1862
VR Group Headquarters: Helsinki, Finland
VR Group Area Served:
Finland
Sweden
VR Group Key People: Elisa Markula (CEO)
VR Group Products: Rail Transport
VR Group Net Income: €152 million
VR Group Owner: Government of Finland
VR Group Number of Employees: 7,500 (2016)