Transport in Finland
Factors affecting traffic include the sparse population and long distance between towns and cities, and the cold climate with waterways freezing and land covered in snow for winter.
The Helsinki-Vantaa based Finnair (known for an Asia-focused strategy), Nordic Regional Airlines provide air services both domestically and internationally.
Despite low population density, taxpayers spend annually around €350 million in maintaining 5,865 kilometres (3,644 mi) railway tracks even to many rural towns.
There is passenger traffic from Helsinki and Turku, which have ferry connections to Tallinn, Mariehamn, Sweden and several other destinations.
The world's northernmost motorway is also located in Finland between Keminmaa and Tornio (Main road 29/E8).
[11] According to International Association of Public Transport UITP parking places are among the most effective ways to promote private car use in the city.
The EU recommended actions cover develop guidance for concrete measures for the internalisation of external costs for car traffic also in urban areas.
[13] Finland's first railway was opened between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna in 1862,[15][16] and today it forms part of the Finnish Main Line (päärata), which is more than 800 kilometers long.
High-speed Pendolino services are operated from Helsinki to other major cities like Jyväskylä, Joensuu, Kuopio, Oulu, Tampere and Turku.
Modern InterCity services complement the Pendolino network, and cheaper and older long and short-distance trains operate in areas with fewer passengers.
Light rail systems are currently being planned for Helsinki and also for Turku and Tampere, two of the country's other major urban centres.
On November 18, 2017, Länsimetro extended the metro lines from the inner city to the west, via Lauttasaari to Tapiola and Matinkylä, and on December 3, 2022, all the way to Kivenlahti.
There are plans to link Helsinki to Turku and Tampere by high-speed lines resulting in journey times of an hour between the capital and the two cities.
The trams in Viipuri, having been lost to Soviet Union in 1945, ceased operations in 1957, while the Turku tramway network shut down in 1972.
Helsinki currently operates 10 tramlines on a network of approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi) of track in passenger service.
[21] The larger airports are managed by the state-owned Finavia (formerly the Finnish Civil Aviation Administration).
Finnair, Nordic Regional Airlines and Norwegian Air Shuttle are the main carriers for domestic flights.
Helsinki-Vantaa airport is Finland's global gateway with scheduled non-stop flights to such places as Bangkok, Beijing, Guangzhou, Nagoya, New York, Osaka, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Tokyo.
Helsinki has an optimal location for great circle airline traffic routes between Western Europe and the Far East.
[22] The airport is located approximately 19 kilometers north of Helsinki's downtown in the city of Vantaa, thus the name Helsinki-Vantaa.
To facilitate through shipping, Finland leases the Russian section of the canal from Russia (the original agreement with the Soviet Union dates to 1963).
In order to lower and drain Lake Pohjalanjärvi, the depression of Rautajoki was deepened by canalization.
