The vast majority of
Finnish narrow-gauge railways were owned and operated by private companies. There are only a few instances where
narrow-gauge railways
A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and .
Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...
were in direct connection with each other, and those interchanges did not last for long. The railways never formed a regional rail traffic network, but were only focused on maintaining connections between the national
Russian-gauge railway network and the off-line industries.
Some railways were closed due to competition from the roads, others were converted to
Russian gauge.
Common carriers
* The
Lovisa–Wesijärvi railway (1900–1960) that operated an line between
Lahti and
Loviisa
Loviisa (; sv, Lovisa ; formerly Degerby) is a municipality and town of inhabitants () on the southern coast of Finland. It is located from Helsinki and from Porvoo. About 43 per cent of the population is Swedish-speaking.
The municipality co ...
.
* The
Hyvinkää–
Karkkila railway that operated a line
* The
Jokioinen Railway
The Jokioinen Railway (JR, Jokioisten rautatie, Jokioisten-Forssan rautatie) located in Jokioinen, Finland, was opened for temporary traffic on December 9, 1898. On October 25 1899, the railway began permanent passenger and freight services.
T ...
that operated a line until 1974, being the last
common-carrier narrow-gauge railway in Finland.
Other lines were notably shorter. The common gauges were and , with a few railways built with and gauges.
Tourist and heritage lines
Narrow-gauge tourist and
heritage lines of gauge and narrow gauge still operate.
of preserved narrow gauge railways in Finland
A visitors guide to Nordic (Scandinavian) narrow gauge railways
* Jokioinen Museum Railway, , 14 km, Jokioinen– Minkio– Humpilla.
* Nykarleby Jernväg, , 2 km.
* Tankavaara Kultakylä, , opened in 1997.
* Outokummun Kaivosrautatie, , 1.15 km, former copper mine.
Other
* Rokua railway, , 3.3 km (2.1 mi), line connecting a hotel with a fitness center
References
{{Europe in topic, Narrow-gauge railways in
Rail infrastructure in Finland
Finland