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I Tried the BRAND NEW Train from Sweden to Finland - and it was AMAZING!

Simon Andersen

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In this video, I’m taking a ride on the brand-new international train connecting Sweden and Finland, after 33 years without passenger trains between the two countries. And with services to Russia suspended in 2022, this new route finally reconnects the Finnish railway network with the rest of Europe.

So join me for eight amazing hours onboard Finland’s excellent double-decker trains, some of the best in Europe, as we check out this brand-new and currently only international train to and from Finland.

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Train type: Sr2 + Dosto Stock
Route: Haparanda - Oulu - Helsinki
Train: IC 402 / 38
Distance: 816km
Journey time: 8h19m
Average speed: 98 km/h
Price: 72.80€ (First Class)

00:00 Intro
00:37 Haparanda (Amazing Station)
02:07 Return of Passenger Services
03:25 The Poor Timetable
03:55 Finnish and Swedish Infrastructure
04:25 The BRAND NEW Train Service!
06:00 Boarding and Departure
07:32 Border Crossing
08:10 New Tornio Railway Station
08:45 Old Tornio Station (Tornio East)
09:30 Route Map
10:20 Seat Tour (They Spin!!)
11:34 The Cool Isohaara Hydropower Plant
12:15 Kemi Station (Waiting for Sleeper Train)
13:20 Train Interior Tour (So Many Features)
15:51 Oulu (Train Number Change)
16:40 Breakfast Time
18:03 Ylivieska's Special Local Train
18:50 International Services to Russia
19:32 The Special Stop at Härmä
20:11 Wi-Fi
20:29 Seinäjoki Station
20:55 Seinäjoki–Parkano
21:30 Toilet Tour
22:10 Tampere (Sauna Capital?)
23:12 Lunch from the Dining Car
23:57 Approaching Helsinki
24:50 Overall Thoughts
25:40 Tickets
26:08 Helsinki Arrival

#Travel #Trains #TripReport

20 Comments

@5astelija75 3 weeks ago (edited)

22:05 funny wordplay on the coffee mug: "Kiskon kahvia" means both "Coffee from the rail" and "I gulp down coffee". Finland ranks first in the world for coffee consumption per capita.

@StradaleCarDude 3 weeks ago

This is a great addition to help europe become even better connected!

@adrianocamargo3193 3 weeks ago

I also think VR trains are among the best in Europe. Being able to bring your car on the train (you saw them when the night train from Kolari was passing) is simply perfect. Job well done, VR!

@sipasipuli 3 weeks ago

The children's play area has been a thing for at least 20-years.
When i was a kid, we also could get a physical copy of a ticket for kids, from a conductor, that had characters like Risto Räppääjä (it's a character from a children's book), The Little Mole etc.
I still have some of mine after all these years!

But for real, it is nice to now be able to travel via train all over the europe! (though it's really not cheap at all.)

@SooonWukong 3 weeks ago (edited)

I'm half-Finnish and I visit Finland at least a couple of times a year and ride VR every chance I get, mainly taking the Helsinki - Turku line and, even if I have some gripes with the way they manage some things, I have a lot of fondness for their trains. I remember a few times when I was a child that my mom would book the "family room" and I would play in there together with my brother and cousins and then going down the slide in the kids area. Looking back at it those memories on VR trains are definitely what kickstarted my interest and enjoyment of trains.

Eventually I would love to try this new connection as well

@River_x2 3 weeks ago

I live in Eastern Finland and plan a train trip through Europe next summer. I'm so happy you introduce us this train line and others too, your videos are my study material for my trip :)

@MichaelAndersen_DK 3 weeks ago

Imagine THAT in service from Copenhagen to Hamburg or even Berlin.

@abollore 3 weeks ago

Thanks for great review of our newly launched international connection! We (locals) are very excited about it as we believe it will bring loads of opportunity e.g. in tourism.

@wikketube 3 weeks ago

Actually Tornio Itäinen is the "new" station, it has been in use maybe 20 years. I am from Tornio and I am very happy to see that our over 100 years old beautiful railway station is again in use! They have renewed the platforms though. I still remember when the old station was in active use. Then they gradually ended services one by one. In early 2000's there was only ticket sale left before everything went to internet.

@Teesbrough 13 days ago

Trying to remember how I did this trip, in the reverse direction, in 1982. I think the through trains between Tornio and Haparanda were not running even then. So, after a train from Oulo to Tornio I walked across into Haparanda and went into a bank to change my Finnish Markka into Swedish Krone. The Bank Clerks tried but told me it wouldn’t be possible as Finland had devalued the Markka that morning. From Haparanda I caught a single diesel railcar, with many other passengers, to Boden. From there I caught a sleeper train to Ånge. After a few hours wait there in the middle of the night I then caught the sleeper from Stockholm to Trondheim via Ostersund and Hell.
Great to see the international service has been restored.

@edscoble 3 weeks ago

Double deckers mean the train can be half the length of a traditional one which make way more sense, was very handy (like the CAT in Vienna that have three carriages but technically it's six due to this).

@teura5509 3 weeks ago

24:00 There used to be a short lived, direct passenger train from Tampere to Lahti back around late 2018 - early 2019. So there was something other than regional trains on the track for a while, some ten years after the direct connection from Helsinki to Lahti was made. The Tampere - Lahti service was made to shorten the time it takes to get between the two cities by eliminating the need to switch trains in Riihimäki. It was made possible when they build a new piece of rail directly north of the station, allowing trains coming from the north to directly connect to the eastbound tracks, or vice versa.

Even if I managed to try it only once, it was a welcome addition for the time it existed. But for some reason, it was only some 10 minutes faster than the nondirect one, despite eliminating the need to switch trains in Riihimäki, and not stopping at any of the smaller stations between Riihimäki and Lahti.

@310Winry 3 weeks ago

Winter train video pretty please! :D

@tapio_m6861 3 weeks ago (edited)

I take the VR quiet ekstra class from Oulu to Helsinki and back about once a month. Great to see us getting a connection to Haparanda. Maybe once the schedules work better, I'll take a trip to Luleå.

I like our trains, they are high quality and the trip is pleasant. Though people like to say that VR is always late (and tbh sometimes it really is), it's not any worse than if you would take an airline, they are late sometimes as well.

The quiet ekstra class is great place to get some work done. Finns are natural at not wanting to talk to one another, so plenty of peace to do whatever you want. The internet connection has improved as well. Used to be horrible, but now its serviceable. And the connection between Oulu and Helsinki is quite popular especially with airline tickets being super expensive these days, sometimes 5x compared to the ekstra class ticket.

I prefer to take the IC instead of the Pendolino. I find IC being the most pleasant of the three (old and new Pendolino and IC), and its not that much slower either.

@osmoduh 3 weeks ago

25:57 the ugly building is the main signalling control tower for the Helsinki central railway station. Still in operation 51 years after it was built (athough the signalling control is electric nowadays ofc)

@RVNspotting 3 weeks ago (edited)

This is a nice little addition but it would be far more important to have a better connection from Haparanda to Stockholm. Travel time is just as long as it was 30 years ago and we’ll have to wait another 15 years until the North Bothnia Line is complete 🙈

Love how much details you know for a Dane! Greetings from Finnish Lapland!

@daandanx 3 weeks ago

Great, cozy video! Glad to see improvements being made on good, green forms of infrastructure. Utilizing underused stations and bridges, electrifying more lines, etc, gotta love it!

@MaiaMirabell 3 weeks ago

Kiitos, Simon 🌞

Yes, I am Swedish, ofc I know some Finnish words and phrases 😃

@mirmzu 3 weeks ago

It is good to see the railroad bridge in proper action finally. Around 20 years ago me and my friends used to cross it by foot whenever we wanted to go to Haparanda. It was in a pretty bad shape back then.