Because in most parts of Finland the density of population is low, Finland is not optimally suited for railways. Commuter services are nowadays rare outside the Helsinki area, but express trains interconnect most cities. As in France, the majority of passenger services are connections to the capital, Helsinki. In the 2010s, VR has made connections faster by reducing stops at minor stations and increasing running speeds with new locomotives and renovated high-speed trains.
VR provides motorail services. Cars can be loaded onto and unloaded from trains at seven stations: Helsinki, Turku and Tampere in the south, Oulu further north, and Rovaniemi, Kemijärvi and Kolari in Lapland. Car transport trains stop at other stations along the way for normal passenger transport and is available as daily service to Rovaniemi and Kemijärvi and several times a week to Kolari. Finland is the only Nordic country to offer car transport on trains; however, car transport on trains is available in many European countries outside the Nordic countries. In August 2021 VR began operating the Tampere light rail.
VR operates the commuter traffic in the Helsinki area on behalf of HSL and its own commuter rail services in southern Finland.
The railway line from Tornio in Finland to Haparanda in Sweden over the Torne River Railway Bridge was electrified by 2025 with the intention to re-establish crossborder services. A subsidy for the service was added to the Finnish government budget as an amendment during 2026, and as of June 2026, the service start is planned for August 2026. VR previously operated trains to Haparanda in 1988, and the Swedish State Railways withdrew its service from Luleå, Sweden to Tornio, Finland in 1992.
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Before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, VR operated jointly with Russian Railways a passenger rail service named Allegro between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg. However due to sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, all passenger rail traffic between Finland and Russia has been suspended in March 2022, and the rolling stock has since been parked. These trains were in late 2023 taken over by VR, and have re-entered service as Pendolino Plus trains in November 2025, travelling between Helsinki and Turku (service began on the 3rd of November 2025) and Helsinki and Oulu (service began on the 15th of December 2025). The trains are aimed specifically at business travelers and commuters, and they are meeting the growing demand. There are currently four Pendolino Plus trains and they have begun service in November, partially replacing some IC and Pendolino trains on some routes.
Freight
In 2025, VR had a market share of 87% of the rail freight in Finland.
VR terminated its international freight operations over the Russian border following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Freight traffic to Sweden usually does not continue further than Tornio by rail due to differences in the track gauge between the two countries, although a possibility to exchange bogies exists. Train ferry connections from Turku to Stockholm, Sweden via VR's former subsidiary SeaRail were terminated at the end of 2011.
Subsidiaries
Avecra
Avecra is a VR subsidiary that operates the restaurant cars on long-distance routes. It was founded in 1977 as Liikenneravintolat Oy and got its current name in 1991. In 2017, VR Group bought Rail Gourmet Group's 40% stake in Avecra, becoming the sole owner of the company.
Avecra closed the eight restaurants it operated at Helsinki Central, Kerava, Tampere Central, and Tikkurila stations in 2024 and 2025, and continues to operate restaurant cars only.
Pohjolan Liikenne
Pohjolan Liikenne is a VR subsidiary that operates buses on tenders from local transit authorities. As of 2018, the company operated a fleet of 535 buses at 9 locations in Finland and employed about a thousand people.
VR FleetCare
In 2019, VR Group's maintenance division was moved to new subsidiary, VR FleetCare. VR FleetCare has since started manufacturing its own freight wagons, which have been sold to the Swedish Armed Forces, the Norwegian Defence Materiel Agency and Metsä Group. It has also developed transfer bogies to enable transporting 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge rolling stock on the Finnish 1,524 mm (5 ft) railway network, which were used to transport SJ X40 multiple units to FleetCare's Oulu workshops for refurbishment.
In 2024, VR FleetCare sold its track maintenance vehicle rental and service business to Finnish company Teräspyörä.
VR Sverige
In July 2022, VR Group established operations in Sweden by acquiring Arriva Sverige AB from the German state-owned company Deutsche Bahn. As part of this acquisition, which was finalised on 1st July 2022, VR Group gained control over extensive local and regional public transportation operations, including bus, tram and train services in Stockholm, Östergötland, and Skåne, including Skånetrafiken's Pågatåg. This acquisition brought approximately 2,300 employees into the VR Group. The acquired operations include 740 buses, 180 trains, and 70 trams, facilitating around 58 million bus journeys and 54 million train journeys annually.
Following the acquisition, Arriva Sverige was rebranded as VR Sverige and operates under the VR Group brand. Since 2022, VR has grown in Sweden with contracts that include train services in regions like Bergslagen and Gävleborg. VR Sverige also secured a 10-year contract to operate bus services for SL in Tyresö, Stockholm, beginning in July 2025. This contract is valued at approximately €215 million and involves around 190 employees.
In addition to the purchase of Arriva Sweden, VR Group has also strengthened its presence in the Swedish rail market through the acquisition of MTRX, a high-speed train operator on the Stockholm-Gothenburg route. Acquired in 2024, MTRX was rebranded as VR Snabbtåg Sverige and became part of VR Group’s long-distance operations. The MTRX acquisition included six Stadler Flirt X74 EMUs, which operate over 120 weekly services on the route.
