Protest strike to stop rail traffic on Monday

A one-day strike by railway workers is set to bring all rail services in Finland to a halt on Monday. The industrial action by the Railway Workers Union and the Railway Salaried Staff's Union begins at 3:00 on Monday morning, and will last 24 hours.

The strike is being called to protest the state’s corporate ownership policies.
- The idea that the main task of [the state-owned railway company] VR is to transport people and goods safely has been excessively supplanted by market-driven thinking, says Vesa Mauriala, chairman of the Railway Workers Union.

The unions are also protesting previously announced temporary redundancies among personnel.
The strike will affect about 200,000 passengers. More than 150,000 of them are users of local services, and 35,000 are travellers on long-distance trains.
Also affected will be rail services between Finland and Russia. For passengers to Russia, VR will charter buses from Helsinki to the Vainikkala border station.
Most night trains scheduled to be en route when the strike is scheduled to begin will go to their final destinations.

However, night trains en route from northern stations via Helsinki to Turku, which will stop in Helsinki. Likewise, the train from Helsinki to Kemijдrvi will stop in Rovaniemi.
VR will reimburse passengers for tickets reserved for Monday trains. Holders of one-month passes will also be compensated for the missing day.

Bus companies say that they will run more services on Monday to ease pressure, and the airline Finnair is making preparations to use larger aircraft on domestic routes to cope with expected increased demand.

Source: Transportweekly