The freezing temperatures hitting Finland at the start of the new year have caused headaches for state railway firm VR and its passengers. After a night of major delays on Monday, travellers awoke to more disruptions the next morning.
By 10:30am Tuesday, many long distance train lines were experiencing delays of 15-50 minutes, according to VR's website. Trains heading from Rovaniemi to Helsinki, Turku to Tampere and Oulu to Helsinki have been hit with delays due to technical faults, wait times for connecting services and faults in the railway system.
The early morning Jyväskylä to Helsinki train was cancelled completely due to a technical fault.
Several train delays have continued due to the cold weather on Wednesday. Long distance and commuter lines have faced setbacks and cancellations from the morning into the afternoon, national rail operator VR reported.
Severe delays Monday evening
Plummeting temperatures as low as -36.3 degrees Celsius in some parts of the country also led to extensive delays to train traffic throughout Finland on Monday evening. Some long distance trains were delayed by more than three hours according to the national rail operator's website.
The situation worsened in the evening. According to national traffic management agency Fintraffic, fewer than half of long-distance trains were running on schedule just before 9pm and only 27 percent were on schedule after 11pm.
The Intercity Oulu to Helsinki line was three-and-a-half hours late. Reasons the delays included technical faults with trains, wait times for rolling stock or connecting traffic, and other rail traffic.
Local trains were also affected by the extreme conditions. At 6pm on New Year's Day only half of VR's commuter lines were running to schedule, according to Helsingin Sanomat.
VR's Head of Communications Mira Linnamaa told Yle that the delays are due to the severe cold causing problems for the fleet. The sub-zero temperatures can cause technical faults with the trains or challenges related to switching devices, either of which may then lead to waiting times on long distance lines.
These challengingly cold temperatures are predicted to last until at least Thursday. According to Linnamaa, VR will do their best to minimise delays.
Updated 3.01.2024 to add continuing delays on Wednesday.
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