Helsinki harbour rail

Originally it led from the Helsinki Central railway station, via the city's coastline, to Katajanokka.

In the final phase the track had two level crossings and a rail yard in the Länsisatama (West Harbour).

Originally, the track began at Helsinki rail depot and VR warehouses, then ran under Heikinkatu (after Winter War called Mannerheimintie) and continued in a cutting to Ruoholahti.

From Ruoholahti the track went via Hietalahti to Merisatama (Ullanlinna) in the middle of Telakkakatu and from there onwards along the edge of Kaivopuisto to the tip of Katajanokka.

The track had a tunnel south of the Olympiaterminaali, and at the Market Square there were two turning bridges at the Cholera basin and at the Katajanokka canal, and one in Hietalahti.

[1] In the 1950s, it was possible that some week's last train, carrying a heavy load of coal cargo, was pulled from Jätkäsaari to Pasila by two Vr3 engines, causing even the windows of Eduskuntatalo to shake and the cutting between the two parallel Rautatienkatu (Railway Street) streets to fill with black coal smoke.

Even in the middle 1970s one could see the supervisor engine of the harbour in the middle of the Market Square going to fetch cargo cars from Katajanokka, or pushing a long line of cars over the Market Square turning bridge in either direction.

After Eteläsatama was assigned solely to passenger traffic, the harbour cranes and the track were dismantled in 1972.

These plans were not realised, as the first part of this line was dismantled from the front of the Finnjet terminal in Katajanokka in 1977.

Commemorating the track is a water supply crane in Katajanokka, adored with a memorial plaque.

It is open all time during ice-free season as the Hietalahti basin has a harbour for small craft.

The rail path from Hietalahti to Eiranranta was for the most part converted to bike and pedestrian use and the site of former sidings in Merisatama has been turned into a park.