Incredibly happy to finally see this route back in operation after almost four decades. The schedules are almost farcical however, not connecting with Norrtåg’s services on the Swedish side and not being particularly useful for local people in the north of Finland either. Seems like the schedules have been planned around connections towards the south of Finland, with not much consideration given to anything else.
Operationally, VR don't have the right rolling stock for this service, so they have to use long-distance rolling stock in the gaps in the existing service pattern between Oulu and Helsinki. So the north/south connections are a reflection of that.
To VR’s credit, these connections do indeed work very well, but even then, I find it quite silly that while in practice a direct train from Haaparanta to Helsinki does exist (IC37/407 Helsinki 13:20-Haaparanta 19:50, IC402/38 Haaparanta 7:20-Helsinki 15:39), it’s sold as a regular connecting service with no mention made to the fact that it is the exact same train. VR’s systems very much are capable of this with trains that divide or join along the journey, it’s quite frankly insane to me that this hasn’t been done with this service too.
Don't quote me on this, but I think this is might be to do with the funding. Operating the Haparanda - Oulu segment of the through train under its own train number might be do with avoiding complications with accounting for state-supported trains.
All in all lots of room for improvement still, both on the Swedish side with making the Norrtåg services connect properly to the VR services and on the Finnish side with making the direct connection work properly as such, preferably with one number throughout.
It will be much improved from December 2026.
Norrtåg explain that from the 6th of September there will be morning connections in both directions on Fridays and Sundays, adapted for weekend trips. Then from the week of 5th October, evening traffic on the Swedish side will be adapted for connections in both directions. Then from 13th December 2026, morning and evening connections are coordinated for connections every day of the week.
There is no shortage of enthusiasm, especially since Norrtåg is currently operated by VR's Swedish subsidiary. They are receiving 5 additional Regina trains this summer, and with that there will be a big step change in both timetables and frequencies on the more southern routes.
For me (in Umeå) the much greater excitement arises from the possibility of easier trips Umeå - Oulu/Uleåborg (where we already have many existing academic and business links) and Oulu - Luleå/Narvik. As many have said, this isn't about Stockholm or Helsinki, but stronger connections between people in the north of the two countries.
This is not totally related to Haparanda/Tornio, but earlier this year SVT (Swedish public TV) broadcast a really sweet and insightful 4-part documentary about the lives of people in Karesuando (
Gárasavvon in Sami,
Kaaresuvanto in Finnish or
Karesuanto in Meänkieli). Each one broadly covers one season, and how people's lives are adapted to the cold, dark winters and long 24hr days of summer. Several languages are spoken (including the Torne River dialect of Meänkilei), but if you watch in Google Chrome sometimes the web browser's translate function will be able to translate the captions. Or just let it wash over you and enjoy the fantastic soundtrack. The show is called
Macken i Karesuando which means "the gas station in Karesuando", where everyone passes through for groceries, energy or gossip.
Det är kallaste februari när en man kliver in på macken och berättar att han är på väg till Japan på cykel. Fårfarmen har fått tillökning, JT hjälper en kompis med siktet och för festivalgeneral Karen-Ann är planeringen för sommarens festival i full gång. Del 1 av 4.
www.svtplay.se
