Topic summary

Finnish Main Line

Finnish Main Line
Toijala
Lempäälä
Tampere
Parkano
Seinäjoki
Lapua
Pännäinen
Kokkola
Ylivieska
Oulainen
Vihanti
Kempele
Oulu
Kemi
Tervola
Muurola
Rovaniemi
Ylitornio
PelloKemijärvi
Kolari

The Finnish Main Line (Finnish: Päärata; Swedish: Stambanan) is a 810-kilometre (500 mi) long electrified group of railway lines in Finland between the cities of Helsinki and Oulu. The first segment, a 108-kilometre (67 mi) line from Helsinki to Hämeenlinna, was opened on March 17, 1862.

The railway serves Helsinki, Riihimäki, Hämeenlinna, Tampere, Parkano, Seinäjoki, Kokkola, Ylivieska and Oulu. The future Suomirata project aims to improve the current Riihimäki–Tampere section by either building additional tracks alongside the existing main line or an entirely new straight line. The goal is to reduce the travel time from Tampere to Helsinki from the current 1 hour 33 minutes to about an hour.