The Helsinki harbour rail was a side rail track in Helsinki

Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, built in the 1890s, and dismantled in 2009. Originally it led from the Helsinki Central railway station

Helsinki Central railway station

Helsinki Central railway station is a widely recognised landmark in central Helsinki, Finland, and the focal point of public transport in the Greater Helsinki area. The station is used by approximately 200,000 passengers per day, making it Finland's most-visited building...

, via the city's coastline, to Katajanokka

Katajanokka

Katajanokka is a neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland, with around 4000 inhabitants in 2005. The district is located adjacent to the immediate downtown area, though in the first major town plan for Helsinki from the mid-18th century, the area fell outside the fortifications planned to encircle the...

. Its original length was 7 kilometres (4.3 mi), but in its final stage, its length was only about 3 kilometres (1.9 mi). The track had two level crossing

Level crossing

A level crossing occurs where a railway line is intersected by a road or path onone level, without recourse to a bridge or tunnel. It is a type of at-grade intersection. The term also applies when a light rail line with separate right-of-way or reserved track crosses a road in the same fashion...

s and a rail yard in the harbour. Near the start of the track were the former VR warehouses

VR warehouses

The VR warehouses were a group of redbrick railway warehouses in the centre of Helsinki, Finland. Their official address was 13 Mannerheimintie. The oldest parts of the warehouses were designed by Bruno Granholm and built in 1898–1899, when they served as the cargo terminal for the Helsinki...

. It was used only by trains going to the harbour, but special request trains have also travelled the track.

History

The construction of the harbour rail began in 1891, although the first plans for the track had been made in 1870. The first train to Eteläsatama

Eteläsatama

South Harbour is a bay and harbour area immediately next to the centre of the city of Helsinki, Finland. It is the largest passenger harbour in Finland, and 5.4 million passengers travel through it every year. The most of the harbour's traffic is to Stockholm, Sweden and Tallinn, Estonia, and...

 ran in December 1893 and the track was inaugurated in the next spring, on 8 April 1894, when it reached the old sales hall. The extension of the track to Katajanokka was completed in September 1895. The length of the new track was 5.49 kilometres (3.4 mi) and it included 4.292 kilometres (2.7 mi) of side tracks. The track also included Finland's first, 74 metres long, railway tunnel to Kaivopuisto

Kaivopuisto

Kaivopuisto , or in spoken language, Kaivari, is one of the oldest and best known parks in central Helsinki, Finland, and also a neighbourhood of about 500 inhabitants where the park is located.-Geography:...

, and the present underpass of the track under Mannerheimintie

Mannerheimintie

Mannerheimintie , or Mannerheimvägen , named after the Finnish military leader and statesman Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, is one of the most famous streets in Helsinki, Finland. It was originally named Heikinkatu , after Robert Henrik Rehbinder, but was renamed after the Winter War...

 was Finland's first concrete bridge.

Originally, the track continued from Ruoholahti

Ruoholahti

Ruoholahti is a quarter in Helsinki, part of the Länsisatama neighbourhood and Kampinmalmi district. The name means Grass Bay and is pronounced...

 via Hietalahti

Hietalahti, Helsinki

Hietalahti is an unofficial district in the city of Helsinki, Finland.Hietalahti is a southern district, bordering the seaside, situated between Ruoholahti in the west and Kamppi in the north. Main attractions in Hietalahti include Helsinki's most popular flea market, a luxurious hotel and a...

 to Merisatama in the middle of Telakkakatu and from there onwards along the edge of Kaivopuisto to the tip of Katajanokka. It was then around 7 km long. The track had a tunnel south of the Olympiaterminaali, and at the Market Square

Market Square, Helsinki

The Market Square is a central square in Helsinki, Finland, and one of the most famous market places and tourist attractions in the city....

 there were two turning bridges

Swing bridge

A swing bridge is a movable bridge that has as its primary structural support a vertical locating pin and support ring, usually at or near to its centre of gravity, about which the turning span can then pivot horizontally as shown in the animated illustration to the right...

  at the Cholera basin

Cholera basin

The Cholera basin is the established name for the western harbour basin in front of the Market Square in Helsinki, Finland.- History :The harbour basins were built in the early 19th century. At that time, the Market Square area consisted of the muddy Kaupunginlahti bay. Its shores had many shore...

 and at the Katajanokka canal, and one in Hietalahti. 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 put solely to passenger traffic, the harbour crane

Crane (machine)

A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist, wire ropes or chains, and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally. It uses one or more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the normal capability of...

s and the track were dismantled in 1972. When the Finnjet was built, there was a public presentation of a plan to put the harbour rail to passenger use in a similar way as in Turku

Turku

Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland...

, where passenger trains go to the harbour. These plans were not realised, but the track was begun to be dismantled in front of the Finnjet terminal in Katajanokka in 1977. The cargo traffic to Katajanokka finally stopped on 1 May 1980. After this, only one Dm9 request train ever visited the Market Square. The harbour rail was closed with a stop disc at the eastern end of Merisatama, but the track leading to Eteläsatama remained in place, disused, for several years. The track to Katajanokka was dismantled by 1985, and in 1989 the turning bridge crossing the Katajanokka canal was replaced by a light traffic bridge. At the same time, the part of the track on the edge of Kaivopuisto was dismantled.

The part of the track leading from Ruoholahti to the Merisatama track yard, and the side track from there to the Aker Yards

Aker Yards

STX Europe AS, formerly Aker Yards ASA, a subsidiary of the South Korean industrial chaebol STX Corporation, is the largest shipbuilding group in Europe and the fourth largest in the world. With headquarters in Oslo, Norway, STX Europe operates 15 shipyards in Brazil, Finland, France, Norway,...

 dock, were in use until 2005. The dismantling of this track was started in July 2008.

In 1925, there was also a side track from Ruoholahti to Salmisaari

Salmisaari

Salmisaari is a small area belonging to the Ruoholahti quarter of the Länsisatama neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland....

. It was used for cargo traffic for the Alko

Alko

Alko is the national alcoholic beverage retailing monopoly in Finland. It is the only store in the country which retails beer over 4.7% ABV, wine and spirits. Alcoholic beverages are also sold in licensed restaurants and bars but only for consumption on the premises...

 factories and the Nokia

Nokia

Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...

 cable factory. These side tracks were dismantled from 1990 to 1993. Also the harbour tracks on the eastern edge of Jätkäsaari

Jätkäsaari

Jätkäsaari is a quarter in Helsinki, the capital city of Finland. It is part to the Kampinmalmi district and Länsisatama neighbourhood. It is was the location of the main container harbour in Helsinki until late 2008, when the harbour moved to the new facilities in Vuosaari...

 were dismantled in the 1990s.

In the 1950s, it was possible that some week's last train, carrying a heavy load of coal

Coal

Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...

 cargo, was pulled from Jätkäsaari to Pasila

Pasila

is a suburb in Helsinki, Finland. It is a central-northern neighbourhood, bordering Alppila to the south, Central Park to the west and Vallila to the east....

 by two Vr3 engines, causing even the windows of Eduskuntatalo

Eduskuntatalo

Parliament House is the seat of the Parliament of Finland. It is located in the Finnish capital of Helsinki, in the district of Töölö.-History:In 1923 a competition was held to choose a site for a new Parliament House...

 to shake and the chasm between the two parallel Rautatienkatu (Railway Street) streets to fill with black coal smoke.

The track did not have official stations or stops, because its main use was cargo traffic, passenger traffic was agreed separately each time, including a separate train sender; most of the time the place of agreement was in Katajanokka.

The last passenger train to visit Katajanokka was a Dm9 unit, travelling on request. Despite the dismantling of the track from Merisatama onwards, rails have survived in the Market Square.

The surviving part of the track was dismantled in May 2009, after the harbour facilities were moved from Länsisatama to the Vuosaari harbour

Vuosaari Harbour

Vuosaari Harbour is a seaport facility in Helsinki, Finland, opened in November 2008....

. The chasm between Pohjoinen Rautatienkatu and Eteläinen Rautatienkatu (Northern Railway Street and Southern Railway Street) is planned to be filled with a light traffic line and a light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

line.

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

Sources

• Seisake.net: Helsinki's southern harbour rail (accessed 17 March 2008)