intuition

Answering myself - it seems projected travel time is 30 minutes. That is as slow as the bus. Aiya..

remymartin

The bus is anything between 19 and 35 mins. What's worse - the train stops at Pasila - 1 stop before the central railway station. A real joke!

intuition

OH-LGG

That is 8. From 31 (32A) to 38.

Andaman

Personally I think the train connection will be a big improvment, the train type they'll use is more comfortable than any bus and no need to go outside in rain and snow.

The 30min travel time doesn't sound too bad, the Arlanda-style service would save 10 minutes perhaps? I suppouse they can always make it faster by changing the schedule and skipping stations if needed. Many passengers will appreciate the new service is part of the Helsinki regional transport system, the 5e ticket takes you far.

Pictures of the coming Ring Rail Line:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/liiken...7629981229790/

remymartin

The Finnair bus is excellent value for money and a service, that sadly I expect to be "enhanced". At 6.30€ you get an A/C / heated bus that's rarely full, goes straight to the railway station and has ample space for storing baggage - with the driver even helping out! You may opt to pay with amex or any other sort of card, try doing that with the local municipality setup!

A train that stops in Pasila and is 1.30€ cheaper will perhaps cater towards locals living in the suburbs, but definitely not a tourist looking to go into the city center.

FFlash

You must refer those mins by the Finnair bus.
While OT:
I have run the Finnair bus and the local 615 bus hundreds of times during rush hours and off-peak. The local 615 being cheaper, it takes longer time but you can stop in several points, travel time min 30mins and up to 1 hour during rush. Anyhow, during worst rush hour if you start from Kamppi (or Ruoholahti), I have found it fastest to take metro to Sörnäinen to skip the downtown traffic jams, and from Sörnäinen the bus 615. Faster than anything else (and cheapest if you are on your own dime)

More on topic (still bit OT): I have heard many complain about the new train being slow as it stops on local "milkports" and low max speed. This is true but it serves well local commuting people and connections as well as tourists who usually want to save money, but it is certainly not the way for business folks in hurry.

intuition

True, trains are much less prone to traffic delays. And trains are usually a more comfortable experience than a bus, even though I agree with RemyMartin that the Finnair bus works very well.


I only travel for leisure, and I can't see myself taking a train that is as slow as a bus and doesn't take me to city center. So to me, this seems like a solution geared at commuters, and not a very attractive alternative for visitors wanting simple and quick travel between exactly 2 points, namely the airport and city center.
Maybe it is planned as a general train solution for local traffic with the fringe benefit of an airport connection? But usually, a solution that is suppose to cater to all needs makes no one happy.

And can we really expect a train fare at 5€ with a 738MEUR construction budget?

SPBanker

That's the price for regional train ticket, so yes.

I think the intention is to have lots of commuters from Southern Finland as well as Helsinki region (and maybe even Russia, although currently that seems slightly less likely) to transfer at Tikkurila and Pasila train stations.

HJP

What is the problem with the stop @ Pasila? The train will still continue the journey to Central Railway Station, right?

Kallio

Local trains are the least reliable mean of public transport in Helsinki area and in my opinion too prone to weather and technical malfunction related delays. The main problem is that the railroad network gets very complex near Helsinki Railway Station, which is terminus for all local and long distance trains, and there are also depots and maintenance areas nearby. There are huge number of switches that has to be kept clear of snow and complex infrastructure of various safety controls that seem to be quite prone to local malfunctions. Another problem is that railroads near Helsinki are used at very close to full capacity. Longer total outages are rare but especially during wintertime, reduced frequencies during rush hours are way too common.

The planned Sm5 trains are spacy and comfortable enough and they itself seem to be quite reliable. In theory the travel time to Helsinki central could be reduced to 20 minutes or little over but it would mean that lesser stops between Tikkurila and Helsinki would have to be served by longer distance commuter trains and increasing their passengers' travel time. And many of those travel it daily both ways and would not appreciate extra ten minutes into their daily commute. Unfortunately the capacity at main railroad is not increased so they just extend the route of "stop at every station" local trains between Helsinki and Tikkurila. Planned loop line underground in central Helsinki may help in the future, but that will be closer to 2030 if it ever happens.

So at the moment we are stuck with compromise solution that has to deal with limitations of existing infrastructure and also serve needs of other commuters besides air passengers. Positive thing is that it looks like it will be operational only one year behind the original schedule and even that delay has an explanation I consider somewhat accetable.

Kallio

Yes it will, and everi single long distance and local train to/from Helsinki stops at Pasila. There will be several other stops that are more questionnable for an airport service but as I explained in another post, there is not really a choice unless they want to slow down thousands of daily commuters' journey just to make airport service five or ten minutes quicker.

intuition

So a fare statement would be to call this rail line primarily a Vantaa commuter line which just happens to stop at the airport?
Trafikverket talks a lot about enabling public transport to potentially 200 000 new commuters and less about connecting the airport with the city.

lkrt

This, exactly.

Bus 615 will continue to operate, but with the slower route of 620. So far there has been no information of future 'enchancements' to the Finnair bus service. I don't think it's going away, not in the near future, at least.

Kallio

That is pretty much correct. Getting a rail connection to airport played big role, but it was politically sold mostly as public transport improvement in Vantaa.

Of course it would be nice to have dedicated high speed rail from Helsinki city center to the airport, but as a taxpayer I don't see it worth its price. Half an hour travel time is not that much and for some, all those stops in minor stations make it very convenient airport connection. Not everybody has business in city center and even fewer actually live there.

The best solution would have been to move the main northbound railroad from Helsinki to go via airport but that should have been done decades ago. Now it would be big end expensive effort. Unfortunately back then it was enough that there were enough taxis for passengers and some bus line for employees and those wanting to save some coins.