the history of the finnish railways

Railways are very important in Finland for when you travel, you always have to cover long distances. Though the need was great, Finland was one of the last countries in Europe to build railways.

In the 19th century Europe industrialized rapidly and in the most developed countries railways were already part of every day life in the 1850s which started a discussion wether to build railways or canals in Finland. Finland was part of Russia and the czar Aleksander II gave an order to build railways.

The first railway section was opened between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. Regular trafic was started 17.3.1862. This date is also considered to be the birthday of Finland’s Government railways (VR in finnish). The railway network was directed from coast to inland in order to develop agriculture and the upspringing industry. The main rails were built during the next few decades.

Railways which were build during peace were attact by terrorists because of Finlands inner conflikts. The first time was during the great strike in 1905. Railways and telegraph lines were cut down and rails were destroyed. During civilwar (1917-1918) terrorism increased; rails were stolen, bridges blown up, phone lines were cut and telephone exhange centers confiscated. At the same time the increased transportation of goods and people was one of the most important sources of income.

The city started to renew the Helsinki railway station 1905, but the first world war stopped the renovation. During the war the station was used as a hospital for russian soldiers. A few years later (1918) the "Reds" seized the station and railway administration moved to the "Whites" capital Vaasa. As the defeat of the Reds draw nearer the railway administatration shifted to Viipuri. The station was occupied by germans. The delayd work was started again later the same year and the new building was consecrated 5.3.1919.

As German attacted Poland became peoples’ looks very serious in Finland. The fear grew stronger when the finnish delegation got an invitation to Moscow and soon were shieldforced mobilized and extra rehearsal begun on the Karelian Isthmus. At the same time the evacuation of civilians from the Karelia Isthmus was started. Trafik had to be decreased so that the railways would be free for the army.

At the beginning of the winter war the supply trains heading east and the evacuation trains heading west jammed the railways. Also the enemies air raids increased fear. The fear was realistic because the Russian’s strategy was to bomb the important railway links. Action to secure the railways were taken up for example by making the anti-aircraft defence more effective. When the day trafic became almost impossible because of the continues alerts, people decided to shift to night trafik when there was a danger of crashing because near the war zone trains went without lights. The Winter War was less harmful to the railways than expected but war ended just in time.

The Moscow peace treaty in 1940 caused great damage to not only the nation but also to the government railways. Regiondemisis broke Finlands east border to shivers and 972 km of rail was left behind the border. Also the biggest transport assignment began at that time. The Soviet Union had given 10 days to evacuate all 500 000 Finns and their possession from the Karelian area. The main responsibility was given to the railways. As well as the evacuation the railways had to take care of the return transportation of soldiers. Peace didn’t last for long and in the summer 1941 timetable was changed again to match the one used during the war.

During the war railways were funtioning almost normally, but as the war was getting closer to the end the railways were jammed again because of the troop transportations, home returning soldiers and evacuations especially in northern Finland.

Intermediate peace with the Soviet Union began in 1944, but the germans had to be stopped from staying in Finland. They used the burned soil - strategy, destroyed even the phone poles along the railways.

During the wars hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated in Finland. Transportation was usually carried out with a train. Coaches were stuffed so full of people that they couldn’t lie down. Memories of homes that had to be left and the constant fear of becoming bombed increased the pain of the passangers in the evacuation train. Often the journey ended in blood shed as the enemy attact the defenseless travellers trying to escape to the woods. The biggest loss was in June 1944 when 134 evacuated persons came to the end of their road in a russian attack.

The railway workers were under a great pressure: often the work days were very long and directing the trains to right stations and placing the passangers to right coaches caused even more stress. Among the evacuated people were many sick and old persons who needed extra care. During the night lights were not allowed which caused again more difficulties.

Most of the evacuations were carried out from Karelia to inner Finland but during the Extension War help with transportation was needed also in Lapland. People wanted to get away from the destruction the germans were spreading. The fact that Sweden was so close made it easier and that’s where most people moved to. One condition of the armistice was that the Ingrians had to be returned to the Soviet Union. Many full trains left from Jyväskylä and Oulu to take back 50 000 evacuated persons.

During the years 1939-1945 were over 70 000 finnish children transfered abroad. Especially the children were suffering for war and lack of goods and when the idea of transforming them to Sweden, Denmark and Norway was introduced, it got a great support. The Swedes were the ones who came up with that idea. The people there were willing to give a good life and protected childhood to the children. The first group left Finland 15.12.1939.

The original plan was to transfer the children by boats over the Gulf of Bothnia, but the bombing threat and the frozen sea prevented it. In January 1940 boats were changed to railways. Twice a week left a train from Helsinki to Haaparanta filled with about 300 kids, the oldest were about 12 years old. They had only a sign hanging on their neck where stood their name and the address where they were going.

Only a few accidents were happened during the transforming. The most dangerous threat were diseases, like diphtheria which spread rapidly among the children.

Being a warchild left traums to some children because they were separated from they family, send to foreign country and culture.

During the war it was important to get the sick and the wounded away from the front so that the spreading diseases could be better prevented. The fastest way to get help for the patients was by train and they took men to the hospital. The military hospitals that located all over the country had 10 sick-train in use. Three of them were equipped as well as a small hospital. Every train could transport 300-400 patients at the time. During the Extension War, if it only was possible, motorcoaches (6) were used to take care of small evacutions.

Sick-trains were devided in 3 types. Strecher-coaches were for badly wounded, III class sleeping-cars were for those not so severely wounded and III class sitting-cars for those who could walk. Eating-car, storage-car and sleeping-car for staff were extra coaches. There were 9 nurses, few paramedics and a commendant who took care of the practical routine helping the doctors. Work was done in 2 shifts which often became just one long shift and all the workers were affraid of enemys attacks. Patients were usually transfered into trains during the night when the risk was smallest.

There are no statistics of the sick-train transportation from the time of the Winter War but the ones from Extension War show how necessary the trains were. During the Extension War sick-trains made all together 918 trips (321 in the year 1941). The amount of patients was over 240 000 and in addition with the sick-trains were used to transport wounded germans.

After the Winter War had broken out railway projects which were started after the 1930s depression had to be stopped. The war didn’t stop the building of railways totally. Rails were often needed for service and transportation of troops.

Porkkala - the longest tunnel in the World

One of the regions that Finland had to demise was the cape of Porkkala in the southern Finland. It was an important link to the trains travelling between Helsinki and Turku. After the region was demissed, trains had to go through Toijala and Hyvinkää, which made the tour much longer. After 3 years the Russians allowed the trains go througt Porkkala. But it still was like an adventure.

The Russians determined that the windows of the trains had to be covered while travelling through Porkkala. In every coach there stood a russian soldier with a gun, he was guarding the passangers and preventing theirs visiting toilet. This lasted for tens of kilometres and Porkkala was said to be the longest tunnel in the world.

According to the original plan Porkkala was meant to be a Russian base for next 50 years, but because of the international events and the developed weapon technology Porkkala lost its significance as a Russian base, and it was demissed back to Finland in 1956.

Reparations

Paying of reparations was part of the peace treaty. Finland had to pay 300 million dollars worth in good to the Soviet Union. Schedules had to be kept because the Soviet Union didn’t approve any delays.

Railway workers had to work 24 hour work shifts when the appointed time got closer. All the time they were worried about what the Soviet Union would do if they didn’t make it. But the Finns did it and Finland was the only country who paid its World War II reparation in time. All together 141 490 trains containing reparation goods crossed the border 1945-1952. Together the trains would have been 13 442 kilometers long.

The energy crisis of the early 1970s made the Finnish society acknowlodge the multiple advantages of the rail traffic compared to the road traffic. Earlier the rail traffic was considered as old fashioned because it was tied down to the tracks, but eventually it proved itself to be more easily automatized than any other transport system.

The modern and fast train connections are not only due to the development of the engines and carriages. Reducing stops, making the tracks stronger and straight have also made the difference; enabling the trains to drive a lot faster. Before the tracks were built as cheaply as possible and that is why they went around lakes, hills etc. The tracks needed to be straighened so that trains could drive at the maximum speed which was 120-180 km/h.

On the eleventh year of its existence the Finnish rail concentrated more on transporting bigger amounts of people and carriage. Traffic between Finland and Russia has also increased a lot. Because of the growing number of passangers the super fast and also comfortable trains are being used more and more in the traffic between big cities.

An efficient railway system is necessity in an industrial country where a lot of passangers and carriage are transported daily. At the same time the traffic security had been bettered by for example developing new steering controls. Also the environmental matters are more important now than they were a few decades ago, and the trains are the most environmental friendly way of transporting people and carriage.