Hyvinkää–Hanko railway electrified – electric freight transport reduces emissions

The electrified Hyvinkää–Karjaa railway section has received authorisation to be placed in service, and the first electric freight trains for commercial transport were operated to the Port of Hanko on Monday morning, 3 February.

"Electric rail transport is one of the most concrete ways to reduce logistics emissions and promote sustainable development. With the electrification of the railway section, we have once again been able to increase our electric freight transport and offer our customers more sustainable transport solutions," says Joni Lehtonen,Vice President, Commercial, VR Transpoint.

Electric transport improves the efficiency of the logistics chain as a whole, as transport can be carried out with the same locomotive without the need to switch from electric to diesel or vice versa during transport. In the future, VR will operate freight transport on the railway section mainly using only electric traction, and the latest and most powerful Vectron electric locomotives will also be used for transport. The electricity used by VR is fossil-free.

Electrification will also significantly improve the service capacity of the Port of Hanko, as the port's accessibility will improve. Customers will benefit from even smoother transport solutions and efficient port processing.

"The Port of Hanko's service capacity will improve considerably with the electrification of the railway. The transport route to Hanko will become more efficient and more environmentally friendly, which is in line with both the port's and the EU's environmental targets. We are now in a good place to continue the development of an efficient transport route from the production plants to the end customer in cooperation with all operators," says Anders Ahlvik, Managing Director of Port of Hanko Ltd.

VR's goal is to further increase the share of electric traction, but this requires continuing the electrification of the railway network. Electric traction enables larger loads with fewer trains, which makes the entire logistics chain more efficient and further reduces energy consumption and emissions.

"Investments in sustainable transport are crucial for the competitiveness of Finland's export industry. The more goods are transported by rail, the more effectively we are able to reduce the total emissions from transport," Lehtonen says.