Rantarata (the Coastal Railway, Swedish: Kustbanan), is a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

running between the

Helsinki Central railway station Helsinki Central Station ( fi, Helsingin päärautatieasema, sv, Helsingfors centralstation) ( HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 peo ...

and the

Turku railway station Turku Central Station (, ) is a railway station in the VII District of Turku, Finland. It has VR services to Helsinki and towards Joensuu (most terminate in Tampere or Pieksämäki). The station serves approximately a million passengers annu ...

in Finland. Its first segment, linking Turku to

Karis Karis (; fi, Karjaa ) is a town and former municipality in Finland. On January 1, 2009, it was consolidated with Ekenäs and Pohja to form the new municipality of Raseborg; fi, Raasepori. It is located in the Finnish province of Souther ...

, was commissioned in 1895, and work began the following year. The Turku–Karis track was opened for temporary traffic on 1 April 1899 and for permanent use on 1 November 1899. The second part of the Rantarata, linking Karis to Helsinki, was approved in 1897 and opened for traffic in 1902–1903. The track was done to serve primarily in commuter traffic and was therefore laid out with many curves and as few tunnels and expensive earthworks as possible. This resulted in a series of corrections and straightening of curves, a work with began in the 1910s and continued all the way to the 1990s. As a part of the original plan, all of the stations along the Rantarata featured wooden station houses designed by the architect

Bruno Granholm Bruno Ferdinand Granholm (May 14, 1857 in Myrskylä – September 29, 1930) was a Finnish architect. He served as the chief architect of Rautatiehallitus (The Railroad Board) between 1892 and 1926. Many of the station buildings he designed are ...

. Over the years many of these wood station building had been dismantled to make way for newer structures, such as Leppävaara railway station in 1999. Some of the old buildings still remain, Kauniainen railway station being the most significant example. The track between Helsinki and Kirkkonummi was upgraded with 25 kV AC railway electrification during the 1960s, being the first government-owned electrified railway line in Finland. Together with other improvements and maintenance, the Kirkkonummi–Karis track received its overhead lines in 1994. Coinciding with the purchase of

VR Group VR-Group Plc ( fi, VR-Yhtymä Oyj, sv, VR-Group Abp), commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. VR's most important function is the operation of Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 co ...

's first VR Class Sm3 " Pendolino" high-speed trains, the remaining track between Karis and Turku Harbour was electrified in 1995, completing the route. The passenger service to

Uusikaupunki Uusikaupunki (; sv, Nystad, ) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Southwest Finland region, northwest of Turku and south of Pori. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is inland wate ...

was abolished in the early 1990s, while freight traffic continues through the port of Uusikaupunki. Work to electrify the line to Uusikaupunki scheduled to begin in 2019, leading to the possibility of passenger service being reinstated.

References

External links

Railway lines in Finland Railway lines opened in 1899 5 ft gauge railways in Finland 1899 establishments in Finland {{Railway lines in Finland