Riihimäki–Tampere railway 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 pre ...

running between the

Riihimäki railway station Riihimäki railway station (, ) is a railway station located in the town of Riihimäki, Finland. History The Riihimäki railway station is one of the original stations on the main railway track from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna, opened in 1862 (see ...

and the

Tampere railway station Tampere Central Station is a Functionalism (architecture), functionalist building in Tampere, Finland, designed by Eero Seppälä and Otto Flodin, completed in 1936. The station is one of the most important railway stations in Finland. In 2015, th ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, and it is part of the

Finnish Main Line ; sv, Stambanan , native_name_lang = , color = , logo = , logo_width = , logo_alt = , image = Päärata, Oulunkylä.JPG , image_width = 200px , image_alt = , caption ...

. The line between

Riihimäki Riihimäki (literally "Drying barn hill") is a town and municipality in the south of Finland, about north of Helsinki and southeast of Tampere. An important railway junction is located in Riihimäki, since railway tracks from Riihimäki lead to ...

and

Hämeenlinna Hämeenlinna (; sv, Tavastehus; krl, Hämienlinna; la, Tavastum or ''Croneburgum'') is a city and municipality of about inhabitants in the heart of the historical province of Tavastia and the modern province of Kanta-Häme in the south of F ...

was opened in 1862 as a part of the Finland's first railway between

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

and Hämeenlinna, and the line between Riihimäki and

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city in the Pirkanmaa region, located in the western part of Finland. Tampere is the most populous inland city in the Nordic countries. It has a population of 244,029; the urban area has a population o ...

in 1876.

Services

Commuter trains

Certain services of the Helsinki commuter rail lines and operate in part on the Riihimäki–Tampere section. Line starts from either

Toijala Toijala is a former town and municipality of Finland, located some south of Tampere. On 1 January 2007, it was consolidated with Viiala to form the town of Akaa. Toijala is known as an important railway crossroads. The Helsinki–Tampere an ...

, and then proceeds towards

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

on the

Tampere–Pori railway The Tampere–Pori railway is a railway running between the cities of Tampere and Pori in Finland. The line carries passenger traffic from Tampere to Pori via five railway stations and continues as a freight line to the Port of Pori. Tampere–P ...

. All stations on the section are served by its commuter trains.

Long-distance trains

Being part of the ''päärata'', the Riihimäki–Tampere section is a core part of long-distance transport in Finland. After Riihimäki and possibly making stops at

and

Lempäälä Lempäälä (; Swedish also ) is a municipality in the Pirkanmaa region of Finland with inhabitants (). Lempäälä is located south of the city of Tampere. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . Th ...

, having reached Tampere trains will proceed towards either

Pori ) , website www.pori.fi Pori (; sv, Björneborg ) is a city and municipality on the west coast of Finland. The city is located some from the Gulf of Bothnia, on the estuary of the Kokemäki River, west of Tampere, north of Turku and north-w ...

through western

Pirkanmaa Pirkanmaa (; sv, Birkaland; la, Birkaria, link=no), also known as ''Tampere Region'' in government documents, is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Satakunta, South Ostrobothnia, Central Finland, Päijät-Häme, Kanta-Häme and Sou ...

and

Satakunta Satakunta (in both Finnish and Swedish, ) is a region ( / ) of Finland, part of the former Western Finland Province. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia and Ostrobothnia. The capital city of the region is ...

, toward Ostrobothnia on the Tampere–Seinäjoki railway, or towards

Jyväskylä Jyväskylä () is a city and municipality in Finland in the western part of the Finnish Lakeland. It is located about 150 km north-east from Tampere, the third largest city in Finland; and about 270 km north from Helsinki, the capital of ...

Central Finland Central Finland ( fi, Keski-Suomi; sv, Mellersta Finland) is a Regions of Finland, region ( / ) in Finland. It borders the regions of Päijät-Häme, Pirkanmaa, South Ostrobothnia, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Northern Savonia, No ...

via

Jämsä Jämsä () is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the Central Finland region, about southwest of Jyväskylä. The municipality has a population of (), which make it the second largest town of the Central Finland after Jyväskyl ...

. In addition, Toijala is one of the termini of the Turku–Toijala railway. The termini of the routes that pass through the Riihimäki–Tampere line include

Turku Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; ...

Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; la, Wegelia, formerly sv, Östermyra) is a city located in South Ostrobothnia, Finland; east of Vaasa, north of Tampere, west of Jyväskylä and southwest of Oulu. Seinäjoki originated around the Östermyra bru ...

Vaasa Vaasa (; sv, Vasa, , Sweden ), in the years 1855–1917 as Nikolainkaupunki ( sv, Nikolajstad; literally meaning "city of Nicholas),

Ylivieska Ylivieska () is a town and municipality of Northern Ostrobothnia region, Finland. It has a population of (), and it serves as the administrative centre for Kalajokilaakso and Pyhäjokilaakso, an area with a population of about 90,000 inhabitant ...

Oulu Oulu ( , ; sv, Uleåborg ) is a city, municipality and a seaside resort of about 210,000 inhabitants in the region of North Ostrobothnia, Finland. It is the most populous city in northern Finland and the fifth most populous in the country after: ...

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; sme, Roavvenjárga ; smn, Ruávinjargâ; sms, Ruäʹvnjargg) is a city and municipality of Finland. It is the administrative capital and commercial centre of Finland's northernmost province, Lapland, and its southern part Per� ...

Kemijärvi Kemijärvi ( se, Giemajávri, smn, Kiemâjävri, sms, Ǩeeʹmmjäuʹrr) is a town and municipality of Finland. It is located in the province of Lapland. History The first permanent settler inhabitant of Kemijärvi was Paavali Ollinpoika H ...

and Jyväskylä.

Future plans

As part of ongoing proposals for

high-speed rail in Finland Although Finland has no dedicated high-speed rail lines, sections of its rail network are capable of running speeds of . The Finnish national railway company VR operates tilting Alstom Pendolino trains. The trains reach their maximum speed of 220& ...

, the Riihimäki-Tampere railway may be upgraded for higher average speed, or a brand new line constructed parallel to the existing line.

References

Railway lines in Finland Railway lines opened in 1862 Railway lines opened in 1876 {{Railway lines in Finland