Finland: VR has stopped freight traffic into Russia

[jamesontheroad]

Finnish national broadcaster YLE has reported (in Finnish - use Google Chrome to translate) that hundreds of freight wagons have been stopped at a number of locations across Finland.

Hundreds of Russian freight wagons have been stopped in Finland and are not being processed for the time being due to sanctions.
"We are currently in discussions with customers and various parties about what is happening to them. At the moment, we do not handle them in any way," says [Eljas Koistinen , Commercial Director of VR Transpoint.] Trains are stopped on different parts of the network, but VR does not specify the location of the wagons.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

In English:

Hundreds of Russian train carriages halted in Finland for possible sanctions violations

Finnish state rail operator VR has stopped hundreds of Russian train carriages around the country on suspicion of carrying EU-sanctioned cargo.

yle.fi

All train traffic between Finland and Russia was suspended for several hours on Wednesday night to block further transport of blocked goods into or from Finland.

The crossing point for freight trains on the Finnish-Russian border in Vainikkala was closed late Wednesday due a backlog of traffic to be inspected.

 

[rf_ioliver]

The Allegro trains are still running, though not sure of the loadings *to* Russia but to Finlnad the trains have been full. While VR (not sure about Russian Railways) are selling tickets for the normal prices there are reports of people paying upwards of 5000eur for tickets on the black market.

You can see the current rail movements at the border crossing:

Vainikkala - the main border crossing at: https://juliadata.fi/timetables?s=vainikkala&d=12.3.2022 (many cancellations, Allegro still running: trains marked "AE" )
Niirala: https://juliadata.fi/timetables?s=Niirala+&d=12.3.2022 ( still open)
Imatrankoski: https://juliadata.fi/timetables?s=Imatrankoski&d=12.3.2022 ( still open to Svetogorsk )
Vartius: https://juliadata.fi/timetables?s=Vartius+&d=12.3.2022 ( still open, some cancellations )

Vartius handles the big ore trains that supply one of Finland's steel plants ... not sure what is happening there.

 

[dutchflyer]

These allegro trains were only for RU/FI due to covid rules but FI now accepts any arrivals, as many foreign students/others want to move out.
Somehow I think I´ve read in news here that TO RU about 30% full-111% or more from. As most airlines have stopped flying into RU this is one of the few remaining gateways for Russky wanting to return home.