Helsinki trains
 

Helsinki due to have trains from the airport by July this year,will make getting to town a lot easier.

How? The travel time will still be around 30 mins. Instead of a comfortable non-stop bus, there will be a local train stopping at all stations.

Finnair bus will still continue. City bus 615 also, but apparently those will take the slow route through Vantaa and there will be less frequencies. Trains are not very fast since they have to serve commuter traffic as well, and there are no room for "airport express" trains in existing tracks. However there are some talks it might skip 1-3 stations. It is still bit faster and spacious and since the airport is in the middle of the loop line, it should be easy to secure seats even in rush hour. In late night trains local youths may provide some additional entertainment but it should be quite safe since there are conductor and often couple of security guards on board.

The latest news are that the line will probably start n schedule in July but first few months airport station exit to the actual airport will not be in use. Instead there will be free shuttle bus to/from both terminal entrances if you don't want to walk few hundred meters from another train station exit.

Yeah, non-stop high-speed train from Helsinki to the airport would be nice but as a Helsinki taxpayer I think this will do. There are plans that would increase capacity for local trains in main line and that would allow slightly faster airport trains but that is going to take years. Added benefit for me is that I happen to live near one of the stations.

Generally trains are nicer to get from the airport to the unknown city because it is much easier to follow where you are and even small stations are much better landmarks than bus stops. In many cases it is quite irrelevant whether the actual trip takes 20, 30, or 40 minutes.

That is even worse than I thought. I thought that the airport would actually be the end station. So during rush hour it is quite possible that the trains are already quite full when arriving to the airport? And vice versa, when leaving from the city centre, you have to fight for your seating with everybody else?? Sounds like a nightmare of an airport transportation to me. Luckily you can still take the Finnair bus apparently.

I don't see much risk it being full already in the airport station. It is almost in the middle of the loop and majority of local commuting is to/from Helsinki. If you are taking slightly shorter eastern route to the city centre, there will be some commuters from Aviapolis business park and maybe some from western part of Vantaa going to eastern Vantaa or Helsinki suburbs on the way. They will run 10 minute interval during most of the day and one Sm5 unit has 232 seats (+28 folding ones in standing area) In peak hours at least the current M-train which serves the existing western part of the ring rail has two units connected so I assume it will be the case with airport train too. Current 615 which also runs at 10 minute interval has maybe 40-something seats and Finnair bus little more. And there are frequently people standing in 615. Trains may get quite crowded nearer to Helsinki but you have secured your seat already. When going back it shouldn't be full either if you board at railway station. Also there will be people leaving at every station so even worst case (which would be boarding the train in Pasila instead of railway station) you'll probably have to stand only for couple of minutes.

Here is something in English: https://www.hsl.fi/en/transport-plan...earch/keharata
The map is in Finnish but "lentoasema" is airport, dotted part is underground and new stations are marked in blue (Tikkurila and Vantaankoski also in blue since they were renovated).

And also in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_Rail_Line

And obvious reason for all this is that only way to justify the cost of the rail transport to airport was that it also will serve other local needs.

It should then at least have first class like e.g. Heathrow Express!

Not going to happen. But I'm really hoping that Kutsuplus service would extend its service are to the airport. It is very interesting "(mini)bus on demand" concept that takes you between any bus stops in its service area. You may have to share a ride but paying more may prevent it doing detours to serve other passengers. It costs less than a taxi but more than a regular bus. Those minibuses are quite comfortable and they have wifi. It is currently still considered a pilot and only time will tell if it is really economically feasible.

https://kutsuplus.fi/home

Kutsuplus is brilliant, indeed. But I don't see it expanding to the airport any time soon, though. The airport is pretty far from the service area and taxi associations will start screaming bloody murder if Kutsuplus tries to get into their juiciest gig.

Cheers,
T.

Unlikely - I don't see much traffic from Tikkurila to Vantaankoski or Myyrmäki that would make for full trains. Remember, it's a loop, so you can hop on to either direction and get to Helsinki.

I'm flying into HEL for the first time in July, so this is good for me seeing as I prefer trains to buses.

Same here,I prefer trains,but I am going to HEL in March,so got to use the bus,shame,oh well........

The construction of the station proper at the airport will not be complete in July. In order to use the train, you need to take a shuttle bus to and from the train. For the time being, I recommend using the bus.

Cheers,
T.

I have some doubts about the new train.
I would prefer to use it mostly during rush hours to be more secure about the timing instead of sitting in bus guessing how bad traffic it is and how long it takes.
But then, I believe as this is a commuter train at the same time, the loadings will vary a lot between stations so that some parts go fairly low load, and other parts of journey it will be packed like a metro after Barca game.
Even worse, I believe especially during those rush hours the ride will be awfully packed.

I can somehow manage that, but think about Helsinki tourism. Welcome foreigners to live the HEL transfer experience :D

VR could run it as a semi-express via Tikkurila. Even today there are commuter trains that are non-stop between Tikkurila and Pasila ("Z" and another, I think) clocking in up to 140 km/h on that stretch. So no reason why at least part of the airport link shouldn't be like that.

The problem is that tracks south from Tikkurila are already used more or less to the maximum capacity. They also need to serve smaller stations with some trains. If they choose to have airport trains skip stations, they must have longer distance commuter trains from Riihimäki, Hyvinkää and Lahti stop more. There would be many pissed daily commuters whose already longish commute is made slower.

Sooner or later they have to increase the track capacity. "Pisara" would do that, but it has run into some last minute opposition. The lack of spare capasity is by the way one risk with airport train. Even minor problems can cause major distruption in local train traffic. If you are going to make it very close to checkin deadline, I'll recommend taking a taxi or Finnair bus instead.