Fintraffic is responsible for road, rail, sea and air traffic control in Finland. In 2025, traffic control services helped to prevent major accidents, improved punctuality and reduced traffic emissions. This improvement in efficiency has saved our society millions.
Last year, Fintraffic’s traffic control & management services improved the safety, flow, and environmental friendliness of traffic. According to Mikko Saariaho, Director of Strategy and Communications at Fintraffic, these positive results have been achieved on land, sea and air.
“In road traffic, our traffic management services prevented 150 traffic accidents that would have resulted in personal injuries. On paper, they were also able to reduce approximately 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions and 500,000 hours of time spent on the road. Convert these figures into money, and our Road Traffic Management will have saved up to 75 million euros for Finland’s society,” says Saariaho.
Fintraffic’s Road Traffic Management is based on continuous monitoring of traffic flows and road conditions, as well as the sharing of real-time weather and traffic information with the authorities and different groups of road users.
Other measures that Fintraffic takes to improve the flow and safety of traffic include traffic lights, tunnel technology, and variable speed limits. Fintraffic also enables automatic traffic surveillance by the police.
Over 100,000-tonne reduction of CO2 emissions in air traffic
In air traffic, Fintraffic’s Air Navigation Services guarantee a secure and economic airspace in Finland and make direct flight paths possible.
“Last year, there were over 240,000 flights across Finland’s airspace and the Helsinki Airport, the busiest in the nation, saw almost 158,000 take-offs and landings. There were no air navigation-related accidents or serious incidents last year,” says Saariaho.
In addition to security, effective air navigation services also provided significant time-related, economic and environmental benefits. Thanks to Finland’s well-managed airspace, carriers were able to save up to 7,000 flight hours, which comes down to 41 million euros.
“By making sure that there are no delays in the airspace and by allowing gliding descents at Helsinki Airport, we were able to reduce 97,000 tonnes from the CO2 emissions. This corresponds to the average CO2emissions from over 30,000 internal combustion engine cars,” says Saariaho.
Vessel Traffic Services prevented eight ships from running aground
Over 90 per cent of Finland’s import and export volume is carried on ships, which means maritime logistics is vital to our foreign trade and competitiveness. Fintraffic’s Vessel Traffic Centres provide 24/7 maritime traffic control in Finland's territorial waters.
“The core tasks of Vessel Traffic Services are to ensure safe and smooth merchant shipping through Finland’s rocky coast and to prevent accidents and the resulting environmental damage. We also guarantee safety during the demanding winter season. Last year, Vessel Traffic Services proactively intervened in ships travelling in Finland's territorial waters 18,000 times. Traffic control also prevented 16 serious incidents, which could have led to disastrous shipwrecks. Eight of these cases could have seen a ship run aground,” says Saariaho.
Fintraffic is also part of multinational development and cooperation projects with other maritime operators in the Baltic Sea. With our partners, we seek to promote data exchanges about shipping and maritime logistics chains, as well as improve situational awareness through close cooperation and new digital solutions.
Safest rail network in Europe
On the rails, Fintraffic is responsible for rail traffic control and management, which includes traffic control, capacity management, traffic planning, and passenger information. Traffic control maintains a continuous situational awareness and directs trains in the entire rail network at all hours, while capacity management and traffic planning are in charge of figuring out the complex mix of train traffic, track works and the needs of different operators. Fintraffic’s control centre operations ensure that the electrified track remains safe at all times. Furthermore, Fintraffic monitors safety, maintains the situational awareness of the rail network and coordinates in the event of disruptions, as well as produces expert services for the Digirail project’s development and verification and implementation phases.
Combined, these services make sure that trains in Finland are safe, smooth and punctual. In 2025, the punctuality of Finland’s passenger rail services reached 93 per cent, with over 580,000 trains in the rail network.
“Finland shares the top spot in Europe on passenger rail traffic safety with Switzerland. Our high level of safety is founded on the cooperation between the operators. Fintraffic, the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency, and the transport operators ensure that rail traffic remains smooth, any disruptions receive a rapid response, and seek solutions together,” says Saariaho.
The Digirail project, which reforms the train control system in Finland, will play a vital role in the development of rail traffic. Digirail will allow for more frequent, accurate and disruption-free train traffic, improve safety, and boost the capacity of the rail network. It will also create opportunities for automation and wider use of real-time information. Fintraffic is also developing a complementary rail traffic control and management system, which will also improve traffic flows, situational awareness and anticipation of disruptions, as well as introduce new opportunities to reduce the use of energy in rail traffic.
“Together, these reforms are making Finland’s rail traffic smarter, more efficient and more environmentally friendly,” says Saariaho.
Digital solutions can predict traffic situations
Fintraffic's traffic control and management services have achieved significant safety, flexibility and environmental friendliness objectives. However, according to Saariaho, there’s still room to do better. Currently, development of traffic control systems and operating models focuses on making more effective use of digital solutions.
“It is our objective to better predict what’s happening in transport and how an incident in one mode impacts other modes of transport. Combining this with the progress in transport automation will lead to safer and more efficient traffic in the future,” says Saariaho.
