Kemijärvi railway station

Kemijärvi railway station is a railway station located in Kemijärvi, Finland. It was opened in 1934 when the railway was extended from Rovaniemi to Kemijärvi. It is operated by the VR Group (the Finnish State Railways), and maintained by RHK, the Finnish Transport Agency.

Kemijärvi
VR Group station
LocationAsematie 4, 98120 Kemijärvi
Coordinates66°43′25″N 027°24′14″E
Owned byFinnish Transport Agency
Platforms1
Construction
Structure typeground station
History
Opened1934
Electrified2014

By the early 21st century, the future of Kemijärvi's remaining passenger train service was in doubt, but the restoration of the sleeping car train, and in particular electrification to Kemijärvi, appears to have secured the line's future.

The direct overnight train service between Kemijärvi and Helsinki was controversially withdrawn in September 2006, with VR stating that its new sleeping car trains[1] could not operate with the diesel locomotives needed for the non-electrified railway north of Rovaniemi. However, in March 2008 the overnight train to/from Helsinki was restored using a generator car that could provide hotel power behind a diesel.[2] On 11 March 2014, electrification reached the station from Rovaniemi, allowing seamless service to Helsinki and making Kemijärvi the northernmost electrified point of the Finnish railway system.[3]

At the end of winter 2014, VR was operating one daily overnight passenger train (with sleeping cars) from Kemijärvi to and from Helsinki Central railway station. There are currently no daytime services, but bus services to and from Rovaniemi are available, operated on behalf of VR.

The railway extends beyond Kemijärvi to Salla, but the segment between Isokylä and Salla was closed in December 2012. There are plans, however, to reopen the line and continue it all the way to Murmansk as the Northeast Passage opens to traffic.

References
  1. VR Group Archived 2007-09-28 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Finnish Railway News
  3. Korhonen, Jorma. "Electric train attracts hundreds at Kemijärvi Station". Yle Uutiset (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
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