Use of railway network

A railway undertaking may operate in the state-owned railway network if it meets the following conditions:

  • The railway undertaking must have a licence granted by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom and meeting the requirements laid down in the Act on Transport Services or a corresponding licence issued in the European Economic Area.
  • The railway undertaking must have a safety certificate referred to in the Rail Transport Act that has been issued or approved by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom and that covers the train paths on which operations are planned.
  • The railway undertaking has concluded a network access agreement with the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency.
  • Infrastructure capacity has been allocated to the railway undertaking for the planned traffic.

The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency is responsible for:

  • Organising the traffic management and upkeep of the state rail network.
  • Publishing the Network Statement for applicants of infrastructure capacity. The Network Statement describes the access conditions, the state-owned railway network and its characteristic features, capacity allocation, services supplied to railway undertakings, and the charging principles concerning access to the railway network.

The current development work on capacity allocation:

FTIA Capacity Strategy 2028 (pdf)

  • The capacity strategy is the infrastructure manager’s long term capacity plan. The main objective of the capacity strategy is to provide a first overview of the capacity that will be available on the rail network. This will allow the infrastructure manager to share information on future capacity needs with other infrastructure managers and capacity applicants and allow them to agree on the main principles used in the construction of the capacity model. 

FTIA Capacity Model 2027 (pdf)

  • The capacity model describes the capacity utilisation forecast per route in more detail. The model requires a partitioning of capacity into passenger and freight traffic volumes and temporary capacity restrictions. This also allows for the more detailed allocation of capacity from the perspective of capacity types (annual planning, rolling planning, ad hoc and unplanned capacity). Applicants have the possibility to contribute to the capacity model by indicating their capacity needs and to express their views on the proposed capacity partitioning.