VR Group

VR-Group Plc, commonly known as VR, is a government-owned railway company in Finland. It runs Finland's passenger rail services with 250 long-distance and 800 commuter rail services every day. It has 7,500 employees and net sales of €1,251 million in 2017.

VR was created in 1995 after being known as , Finnish: Suomen Valtion Rautatiet (Finnish State Railways) from 1862 to 1922, and Valtionrautatiet ('State Railways', ) from 1922 to 1995.

Avecra is a subsidiary for onboard catering service, Pohjolan Liikenne for bus traffic, VR Track for developing and maintaining of infrastructure and VR Transpoint for freight. Since 2017, its headquarters is in northern-central Helsinki.

History
Rail transport started in Finland in 1862 between Helsinki and Hämeenlinna. Many main lines and smaller private railways were built later. VR mainly operated on the high-demand main lines. During the twentieth century, most private railway companies were shut down and VR had a monopoly in rail transport.

Since 2010, the maintenance and the construction of the railway network have been the responsibility of the Finnish Transport Agency. The operation and network were originally carried out by the parent company Valtionrautatiet until 1995, when it was split into VR and the rail administration entity Ratahallintokeskus.

Organization
Companies in the group provide road freight and bus services, catering and real estate management. They provide data, technological, and telecommunications services for the transport and logistics sectors. The group owns a bus company, Pohjolan Liikenne, and a road freight haulage company VR Transpoint.

Altogether the group includes 21 companies employing a total of about 14,400 people.

References

Category:Companies of Finland
Category:Rail transport in Finland
Category:Railway companies
Category:1862 establishments in Europe
Category:1860s establishments in Finland