Overview | |
---|---|
Area served |
Uusimaa, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme Finland |
Locale |
Greater Helsinki Finland |
Transit type | Commuter rail |
Number of lines | 14 |
Number of stations | 44 in the HSL region 52 in total |
Daily ridership | 194 500 per weekday (2016 average) |
Website |
https://www.hsl.fi/en https://www.vr.fi/cs/vr/en/frontpage |
Operation | |
Began operation | 1969 |
Operator(s) | VR Group |
Technical | |
System length | 99.2 km (62 mi) |
Track gauge | 1,524 mm (60.0 in) |
Electrification | 25 kV / 50 Hz |
Average speed | 54 km/h (34 mph) |
Top speed | 120 to 160 km/h |
Helsinki commuter rail (Finnish: Pääkaupunkiseudun lähiliikenne, Swedish: Huvudstadsregionens närtrafik, proper translation Local traffic of the capital region) is the commuter rail system serving Greater Helsinki, Finland. The network is part of the HSL network, and is operated by VR, the Finnish national railway company. Together with the Helsinki Metro, buses, and trams, the network forms the heart of Helsinki's public transportation infrastructure.
Trains run primarily above ground in the Helsinki metropolitan area. Within the municipalities of Espoo, Helsinki, Kauniainen, Kerava, Kirkkonummi, and Vantaa, the system uses tickets that are interchangeable with the bus, metro, and tram networks managed by HSL. Traveling beyond Kerava and Kirkkonummi uses VR commuter tickets, which are sold in zones from A (Helsinki) to H (Lahti). The HSL-zone is completely within VR zones A, B, and C.
The network is composed of 14 separate services, pictured in the network map below. They operate on all four branches of the railway lines that begin at the Helsinki Central railway station, which is where they all terminate. The system has a total of 52 stations, 14 of which are within the city of Helsinki. There are about 676 departures every weekday. The commuter rail services carried a total 55.1 million passengers in 2011.