Riihimäki railway station (, ) is a railway station located in the town of

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 ...

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 ...

History

The Riihimäki railway station is one of the original stations on the main railway track from

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

to Hämeenlinna, opened in 1862 (see

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

and

Helsinki–Riihimäki railway Helsinki–Riihimäki railway is a railway running between the Helsinki Central railway station and the Riihimäki railway station in Finland, and it is part of the Finnish Main Line. It was opened in 1862 as a part of the Finland's first railway b ...

). The town was originally built because of the railway. In 1870, a track to

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

, was built (see

Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg Railway The Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway is a long segment of the Helsinki–Saint Petersburg connection, which is divided between Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast in Russia and the province of Southern Finland in Finland. History It was co ...

). The amount of traffic increased, and by the 20th century, Riihimäki became an important crossing-point station. In 1907, a narrow track to

Loppi Loppi (; Swedish also ) is a municipality in Finland. It is located in the province of Southern Finland and is part of the Tavastia Proper region, located about 50 kilometers (about 30 miles) south of the city of Hämeenlinna. Loppi was founded ...

was built, but it was discontinued in 1952. The track was electrified in 1972. By the late 20th century, the railroad traffic from Riihimäki south towards Helsinki started to become overloaded, so a more direct track to

Lahti Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...

was built. When it was completed, the long-distance rail traffic eastwards toward Russia switched to this new track. Now only local trains and cargo trains travel between Riihimäki and Lahti. The Riihimäki railway station is currently under renovation work during which the platforms are raised and the platform shelters, lifts and the station lights are renewed.https://vayla.fi/helsinki-riihimaki/tyot-riihimaen-alueella#.XZL5xugzZPZ ''vayla.fi'' (in Finnish) Retrieved 2019-10-01

Train connections

Helsinki commuter rail: * R-line trains (Helsinki-Riihimäki-Tampere) *D-line trains (Helsinki-Riihimäki) *T-line trains (Helsinki-Riihimäki, nighttime) *G-line trains (Riihimäki-Lahti) Long-distance: *

InterCity InterCity (commonly abbreviated ''IC'' on timetables and tickets) is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe. Such trains (in contrast to regional, local, or commuter trains) generally call at m ...

and

Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian ''pendolo'' "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, the US, ...

trains (Helsinki-Tampere, Helsinki-Pori, Helsinki-Jyväskylä-Pieksämäki) * Overnight trains to Lapland (Helsinki-Kolari, Helsinki-Rovaniemi-Kemijärvi)

Departure tracks

There are eleven tracks at the Riihimäki railway station of which six (1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11) have platforms for passenger trains. * Track 1 is used by southbound long-distance trains and some of the commuter trains (R, T) to Helsinki. * Track 4 is used by northbound long-distance trains and a couple of R-line commuter trains to Tampere. * Track 5 is used by commuter trains to Helsinki (D, R, T) and to Tampere (R). * Track 7 is used by some few commuter trains to Helsinki (R, D) and to Lahti (G). * Track 8 is used only by G-line commuter trains to Lahti. * Track 11 is a temporary platform track used mostly by the G-line commuter trains during the station renovation.

References

External links

Railway station 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 prep ...

Railway stations in Kanta-Häme Railway stations opened in 1862 1862 establishments in Finland {{Finland-railstation-stub