Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway


The Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway is a long segment of the Helsinki–Saint Petersburg connection, which is divided between Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast in Russia and the province of Southern Finland in Finland.

History

It was constructed in 1867–70, entirely by the government of the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland of the Russian Empire, although the short section between Saint Petersburg and Beloostrov was laid in Russia. The Finlyandsky Rail Terminal was opened in Saint Petersburg in 1870 in order to serve this line.
The rail link starts at the Riihimäki railway station of the connection, heading towards the Finlyandsky Railway Terminal of Saint Petersburg through Lahti railway station, Kouvola railway station, Vyborg railway station and Zelenogorsk. Until 1917, when Finland became an independent state, the road had been operated by the Finnish State Railways for all its length, including that section. Due to construction of the southern sections of the railroad, the western part of the Karelian Isthmus on both sides of the Russian-Finnish border became a popular dacha resort place among wealthy St. Petersburgers in the late nineteenth century.
After the Winter War and Continuation War, concluded with the Moscow Peace Treaty, Moscow Armistice and Paris Peace Treaty, the Karelian Isthmus with the eastern part of the railroad to Rajajoki ) was ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union. The railway stations Louko and Rajajoki were abandoned by Russians.
It wasn't until 1913 when the line became connected to the Russian railways as the Finland Railway Bridge across the River Neva in Saint Petersburg was opened.
In 2006, the high speed railway from Lahti to Kerava was opened, and that cut half an hour off the travel time from Helsinki. In 2010, the speed was raised to 200 km/h most of distance Lahti–St Petersburg. The freight traffic will be later moved to another upgraded railway, Saint Petersburg–Hiitola railroad. This and the introduction of high speed trains of type Sm6 cut the travel time by two hours to about 3:30. The railway upgrade cost in Finland was €244M, with an EU contribution of €23M.

At present

The international high-speed train Allegro and the sleeper train Tolstoy run daily on this route between Hakosilta and Finlyandsky Rail Terminal. The Russian part of the railroad is used by suburban trains of the Finlyandsky Rail Terminal with their final destinations at Zelenogorsk, Roshchino, Kanneljärvi, Kirillovskoye, Gavrilovo or Vyborg, as well as elektrichkas Vyborg–Buslovskaya.
The railroad is connected to the Vyborg–Joensuu railroad at Vyborg, to a number of tracks, including the Saint Petersburg–Hiitola railroad, at the Finlyandsky Rail Terminal of St. Petersburg, and also has links to Kerava from Hakosilta, to Vesijärvi, Loviisa and Heinola from Lahti, to Kotka and Mikkeli from Kouvola, to Joensuu from Luumäki, to Primorsk from Lazarevka and Zelenogorsk, to Veshchevo and Michurniskoye from Lazarevka and with Sestroretsk from Beloostrov and Lanskaya. Besides, the line has also a number of short blind branches.
As the Russian part of the tracks is planned to be renovated to handle high-speed international trains and to be used exclusively for passenger traffic, the cargo traffic is expected to be switched to the Saint Petersburg–Hiitola railroad.

Stations and branches

International train stops are bolded. Former names, distance and suburban tariff zones are given in brackets.

Finland

Leningrad Oblast (Finland before WWII)

Saint Petersburg (Finland before WWII)

Saint Petersburg

Electrification