Number of trips by rail decreased by 8 per cent in 2021

Number of trips in passenger traffic fell by eight per cent

In 2021, the total number of trips in passenger traffic by rail totalled 55 million, which was 4.5 million less than in 2020. The number of trips fell by eight per cent from 2020.

Of trips, 85 per cent were made in local traffic and 15 per cent in long-distance traffic. The number of trips in local traffic fell by 10 per cent and in long-distance traffic grew by five per cent from the previous year.

Of the trips made in long-distance traffic, 8.5 million were made in Finland and only 4000 in international traffic. The average length of trips was 52.8 kilometers, which was 5.4 kilometers longer than in the year before.

In 2021, the number of passenger-kilometres in train traffic increased by 3 per cent from the previous year. Passenger-kilometres totalled 2.9 billion, of which long-distance traffic accounted for 76 per cent and local traffic for 24 per cent.

Volume of freight transported by rail grew in 2021

A total of 40.2 million tonnes of freight were transported by rail in Finland in 2021. The volume of freight transported grew by five per cent from the previous year. The transport performance of freight transported by rail totalled 10.7 billion tonne-kilometres, which was six per cent more than in 2020. Of tonne-kilometres, 67 per cent came from domestic traffic and 33 per cent from international traffic. The average length of a freight transport journey was 268 kilometres, which was 4 kilometres longer than in the previous year.

Wood and wood products were transported most by rail, amounting to 15.6 million tonnes last year. The share of the product group was 39 per cent of all transported tonnes. Mineral products were transported second most, in total 8.9 million tonnes, followed by 7 million tonnes of paper industry products. The transport performance was highest in the transport of wood and wood products, 3.7 billion tonne-kilometres, which was 34 per cent of all transport.

Train traffic performances

The total number of train-kilometres was 47.4 million train-kilometres in 2021. Train kilometres in passenger traffic by rail decreased by three per cent and passenger traffic accounted for 69 per cent of all train-kilometres. Train-kilometres in freight traffic grew by six per cent in 2021.

The share of the electric tractive stock was 89 per cent of train-kilometres in 2021. The train-kilometres of electric locomotives grew by one per cent and train kilometres of electric railcars fell by four per cent from 2020. The share of electric locomotives in the train-kilometres of the electric tractive stock was 60 per cent.

In 2021, locomotive-kilometres totalled 68.6 million. The share of electric locomotives was 45 per cent and that of electric railcars was 34 per cent of locomotive-kilometres. In all, 18 per cent of locomotive-kilometres were driven with diesel locomotives and three per cent with diesel railcars.

The total volume of gross tonne-kilometres of train traffic was 32.3 billion gross tonne-kilometres in 2021. Freight traffic accounted for 69 per cent of the gross tonne-kilometres and passenger traffic for 31 per cent of the gross tonne-kilometres. Gross tonne-kilometres of freight traffic grew by five per cent from the previous year but those of passenger traffic decreased by three per cent. In passenger traffic, the gross tonne-kilometres of long-distance trains were 7.4 billion gross tonne-kilometres and in local trains 2.6 billion gross tonne-kilometres. In passenger traffic, the average train weight was 304 tonnes and in freight traffic 1,501 tonnes in 2021.

In 2021, a total of 29.1 billion gross tonne-kilometres were hauled, of which 20.4 billion gross tonne-kilometres hauled came from freight traffic and 8.7 billion from passenger traffic.

In 2021, the total number of vehicle-axle-kilometres of passenger and freight trains was 2.1 billion vehicle-axle-kilometres, which was 0.5 per cent more than in 2020. Coaches accumulated 0.6 billion vehicle-axle-kilometres and freight wagons loaded in freight traffic 0.8 billion and empty wagons 0.7 billion vehicle-axle-kilometres. Of vehicle-axle-kilometres, 69 per cent were hauled by electric locomotives and 18 per cent by diesel locomotives. Electric railcars accounted for 13 per cent and diesel railcars 0.3 per cent of all vehicle-axle-kilometres.

Energy consumption in train traffic totalled 3 petajoules in 2021, which remained the same from 2020. Measured in petajoules, the share of electricity was 68 per cent and that of light fuel oil 32 per cent of energy consumption.

Railway accidents

There were 25 accidents classified as significant on railways in 2021. The number of significant accidents increased by 13 compared with 2020. In the accidents, 10 persons were killed and eight seriously injured. The number of persons killed was six more and four more was seriously injured than in 2020. Most of the accidents leading to death and serious injuries were accidents in level crossings. Eight persons died in level crossing accidents and seven persons were seriously injured in them in 2021.

The number of significant rail traffic accidents was 0.53 per million train-kilometres. In 2020, the corresponding ratio was 0.25.

Rail network

The length of the Finnish rail network was 5,918 kilometres at the end of 2021. Of the rail network, 5,226 kilometres were single-track railways and 692 kilometres two-track or multi-track railways. A total of 3,359 kilometres of the rail network have been electrified. One-half of single-track track railways are electrified and double-track or multiple-track track railways are fully electrified.

At the end of 2021, the length of the Finnish rail network was 8,593 track-kilometres, of which 6,707 were main tracks and 1,886 were sidings. The length of the rail network had gone down by 5 track-kilometres from the previous year. In all, 5,208 kilometres or 78 per cent of main tracks were tracks with concrete sleepers. Continuous-welded tracks amounted to 5,234 kilometres in 2021.

At the end of 2021, the Finnish railway network had 2,567 level crossings, which is 27 fewer than in the year before. Of the level crossings, 1,835 were without safety equipment and 732 had safety equipment. There were 2,285 level-separated crossings, of which 892 had overpasses and 1,393 underpasses.

Investments in track construction and maintenance amounted to EUR 387 million in 2021, which is 22 per cent more than one year earlier.