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Russian Trains in Finland

Many of the Western Russia trains plus some special trains travel outside countries borders today. The longest route rof Russian internatonal train is probably on the Moscow, Russia - Nice, France express! Some of these international trains use the routes in Finland, especially around the new years time, which is an important season for the Russians. In 2010-2011 the train extra routes stretched all the way to the Rovaniemi in the north as well as Kuopio in the east. Numerous extra trains had their destination in Helsinki too.

This page will grow from the humble beginning to a large reference of the RzD and other companies Russian trains seen in Finland. There is also a page for the Russian locomotives in Finland.

Picture above: A VR-Yhtyma Sr1 number 3111 is hauling a Tolstoy overnight express from Moscow, Russia to Helsinki, Finland. It consists of traditional looking Russian coaching. Picture by Gerry Putz.

Russian Trains: *Alexander Nevsky * Repin * Tolstoy * Extra Trains *
Co-owned Trains: *Allegro *

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Created for 4rail.net by Stanislav Voronin and John McKey. Pictures by Stanislav Voronin, Ilkka Siissalo, Hannu Peltola, Andreas Ehnberg, Gerry Putz and John McKey.

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Also in this section:

An IC2 fo VR pulled by Swiss type Sr2 has just left Pasila, Helsinki on it's way to Turku in the west

Finnish Railroads Main Page, a great place to start browsing this section.

Junakalusto Class Sm5 on test drive meets Sm4 of VR-Yhtyma in Kerava, just outside Helsinki, Finland

Finnish railroad organizations and railroad operators have their own pages, as well as the largest operator VR-Yhtyma and a newcomer to the field Junakalusto.

While much of the passenger traffic concentrates around the capital Helsinki, you might be interested in the roster pictures of VR-Yhtyma, Junakalusto and the city of Helsinki operator HKL. HKL operates the metro and narrow gauge trams.

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RzD Tolstoy

VR-Yhtyma Sr1 "Wolf" with a Russian Tolstoy train at Kerava, Finland

Picture above: A VR-Yhtyma Sr1 number 3111 is hauling a Tolstoy overnight express from Moscow, Russia to Helsinki, Finland. It consists of traditional looking newer genearation Russian coaching. Picture by Gerry Putz.

RzD Tolstoy passing Kerava with Wolf number 3030 on it's way to Helsinki, Finland

Picture above: A VR-Yhtyma Sr1 number 3030 hauls the Extra 554 with newer coaching just a few kilometers south of the previous picture, but in the totally different weather conditions. Picture by Stanislav Voronin.

Below the Tolstoy is bending around the curve in Pasila on it's way to maintenance during the day, so it will be clean and fresh next night travelling from Helsinki to Moscow. On the tip the VR-Yhtyma Sr2 number 3229, which feels quite at home in the icy conditions. Picture by Stanislav Voronin.

RzD Tolstoy lead to Ilmala depot by VR-Yhtyma Sr2 number 3229, here seen in Pasila, Helsinki, Finland

The Tolstoy trains connects overnight the million cities of Moscow in Russia and Helsinki in Finland. With reasonably high demand Tolstoy is the highest volume international train to regularly visit Finland. A long rake of gray coaches with a broad blue stripe can be seen every morning near Helsinki after a long voyage and border crossing in between. Two train units are needed for every night traffic, one each way.

Tolstoy is owned by the RzD (the Russian railways) and powered with the Russian electric locomotives on the Russian side and mostly Sr1 type Wolves of the VR-Yhtyma on the Finnish side. Basically, running the Russian electric locomotives all the way to Helsinki would save some journey time, but on the overnight express the time is not an issue between these two cities.

The interiors of the coaches look a little old fashioned to the western eye. The cabins are also missing normal comforts like the washing area with a shover or airconditioning (cooling).

Technical details for Tolstoy
-> Type: Overnight sleeper train, no cars carried
-> Owner: RzD (the Russian Railways)
-> Typical length: around 12 coaches of the newer generation in Russia
- each coach has cabins with beds / seats on both sides
- no shower is provided
- toilet is outside at the ends of the coaches
-> The locomotive is changed at the border crossing on the Finnish side.

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RzD Repin

Picture above: the RzD Repin curving towards the high speed track at Kerava junction area. Picture by John McKey.
Below: The engine change has just occurred in Vainikkala on the Fenno-Russian border. This time the locomotive is an aging dual voltage VL82M number 069 of the Russian railways RzD. Picture by Ilkka Siissalo.

An RzD VL-82 number 069 in Vainikkala, Finland

The day train "Repin" is the traditional coached consist connecting St Petersburg with Finnish cities. Originally Repin ran between Helsinki Finland and St Petersburg Russia. Since the introduction of Allegro Pendolino services the train was pushed back as a reserve since the 6 hours travel time against 3,5 hours by Allegro was not acceptable to most customers. During peak seasons the Repin is still running and there are plans to run the train between Lappeenranta in eastern Finland and St Petersburg Russia. Lappeenranta serves as one of the international airports of St Petersburg with for example Ryanair flying from there to several destinations. The distance between Lappeenranta and St Petersburg is by bird flight a mere 100 kilometers, so to travel that distance does not take long even with a slow train and all the border formalities, which are heavy between Russia and the European Union countries.

Technical details for Repin
-> Type: day train with normal coaches, no cars carried
-> Owner: RzD (the Russian Railways)
-> Typical length: around 4 - 6 coaches of the newer generation in Russia
-> The locomotive is changed at the border crossing on the Finnish side. Russians prefer VL82 / EP10 or Tep70 power on their side, Finns mostly use Sr1 that is well available in Vainikkala.

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Alexander Nevsky, the Russian High Class Private Train

Alexander Nevsky ready to leave from Helsinki lead by Sr1 wolves numbers 3057 and 3092

Alexander Nevsky arriving to snowy Helsinki Main, Finland

A.N. arriving to snowy Helsinki Main, Finland

Alexander nevsky is the most luxurious Russian special train trafficing mostly overnight between Moscom and St Petersburg. The trip in the west can be extended all the way to Helsinki Finland as there is plenty of time for this during the day.

Alexander Nevsky, despite it's modern outside appearance, looks inside like the Zhars palace! While this may attract the Russians, for westerners the inside might look more like the famous old hotels you find around Europe.

To the the left the Alexander nevsky is aided by Wolves 3057 and 3092 to the Russian border, where the RzD TEP70 will take over. Picture by Stanislav Voronin.

To the left the Alexander Nevsky is aided into Helsinki in an extremely cold and snowy conditions by and unkonown Wolf. Pictures by Stanislav Voronin.

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Extra Trains

RzD Tolstoy icy special celebration car, Helsinki Main, Finland

RzD Tolstoy icy new green car, Helsinki Main, Finland

RzD Tolstoy new blue coach at Helsinki Main, Finland

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Allegro

Karelian trains owned Allegro pendolinos are comarketed by RzD in Russia and VR-Yhtyma in Finland. The trains are also 50%/50% owned by the above mentioned companies.

Allegros currently run 4 times a day between Helsinki Finland and St Petersburg in Russia. 3,5 hours travel time enables even daily trips for the first time in between these large inhabited areas.

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