Countrywide railway strike ends

The 30-hour railway strike enforced by Finnish Locomotive Drivers’ Union (Veturimiestenliitto) ended on Tuesday night following sufferings of travellers, particularly the foreign tourists.

The national railway operator VR did not inform the passengers who had already bought tickets individually about the strike. VR did not even arrange alternative transportation for them resulting in sufferings of international tourists who generally have very little access to public notice or local newspapers.

Foreign tourists were seen to rush at different railway stations late Monday night and Tuesday morning only to know that their trips were cancelled.

“I have bought ticket four days ago and I did not know anything about the cancellation,” a helpless tourist who wanted to travel to Helsinki from Rovaniemi told the Daily Finland at the Rovaniemi railway station at 9:30am on Tuesday.

The VR official on duty at the station also kept mum when asked why VR did not arrange alternative bus services for passengers.

Similar sufferings of passengers were also reported at other rail stations in the country.

The domestic railway communication remained completely paralysed from 6:00pm Monday as the locomotive drivers went on the strike. The strike was called on August 10 in protest against the government’s decision to open the railway transport sector to competition.

The government on August 9 announced its decision to open the passenger railway transport sector to competition from the 2020s so that VR will no longer have the exclusive right to provide railway transport services in the Finnish railway network.

Meanwhile, Transport Minister Anne Berner on Tuesday said there will be no changes to government decision to open competition in the country’s railway transport sector, reported the national broadcaster Yle.

All kinds of commuter train services, excepting the Allegro train service between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg and the Tolstoi trains running between Helsinki and Moscow, remained suspended all over the country due to the strike.

Like the previous night, the strike forced most commuters to travel by bus on Tuesday.

The strike ended on Tuesday night and the train services are expected to become normal by Wednesday morning.

VR earlier issued a public notice saying all passenger and freight train services will be suspended across the country during the strike hours.

The VR authorities also urged passengers who had already booked tickets in advance for the strike period to either cancel or change the tickets.

Passengers using VR season tickets can apply for reimbursement if they wish to do so. In this case, VR will reimburse the amount equal to the value of two days to season ticket holders.

The refund is paid in cash or as travel vouchers that can be used for payment at stations with services or via VR Customer Service.