Traffic has increased in the first quarter of the year (1-3/2025) on land, at sea, and in the air. The greatest increase was in rail freight traffic, which increased by as much as 44 per cent. This has been influenced by such factors as the return of operations at large industrial plants to their normal level after the previous year’s maintenance outages. In air traffic, domestic and international flights have increased by 7–8 per cent. Use of Fintraffic’s digital services grew substantially (+66% vs 1-3/2024). The Fintraffic App continued to be the most popular service.
“The early year’s development is a strong indicator that both the volumes of traffic and the effectiveness of our services are increasing steadfastly. The increase in freight traffic on roads and rail indicates that industry is picking up, which is of course positive for the Finnish economy. The more people and goods move, the greater the importance of up-to-date traffic information. The demand for Fintraffic’s digital services clearly reflects this development. Real-time traffic information improves the efficiency, effectiveness and safety of the entire transport system,” says Fintraffic CEO Pia Julin.
Rise in volume of rail traffic – nearly 45 per cent in freight traffic
During this year’s first quarter, the volume of commuter rail traffic increased by 12.7 per cent from the same period in the previous year. The increase in the number of commuter trains has been possible because there has been no need to reduce traffic volumes due to track work. For example, the completion of renovation work at the Tikkurila station has made it possible to restore train services to normal levels.
Long-distance rail traffic volumes rose by 12.4% and freight traffic volumes were 44.7% higher than at the beginning of last year. A political strike took place in 2024, and VR also interrupted train traffic for safety reasons due to damage to the Mankala track. These had an impact on the number of trains in service.
Several factors have contributed significantly to the increase in freight traffic. The end of service outages at a few large factories in South-Eastern Finland has restored traffic to normal levels. In Northern Finland, the operations of Kemi’s bioproduct mill became established which has increased the number of trains in the area. Two thirds of the factory transports are by rail. The Nuojua timber terminal in Vaala has increased traffic volumes. The terminal’s new loading site was introduced in January 2025, which has significantly improved the efficiency of raw timber rail transports. Although the terminal is already in operation, work to complete it will continue during the current year.
Overall, train punctuality was over 90% in the first quarter. Train punctuality was 93.6% (88.3%) in commuter traffic, 90.2% (88.3%) in long-distance traffic and 92.8% (84.5%) in freight services. These figures have been influenced by such things as the mild winter with low snowfall, which made rail services easier than typically. The favourable weather conditions facilitated the operation and maintenance of train traffic and reduced disruptions caused by weather conditions. In addition, large-scale track work completed or advanced in the previous year on the main line has contributed to the positive development.
Track work was down by 27.9% compared to the same period last year. The easy winter is also highlighted in these figures, as it reduced the need for such things as snow clearance and maintenance on railways. This reduction has also been influenced by the completion of several projects as planned.
Use of Fintraffic’s digital services increased by 66% compared to the previous year
In the first quarter of 2025, Fintraffic’s digital services attracted around 2.7 million visits, an increase of 66% (1.6 million visits Q1/2024) from the previous year. The Fintraffic App, which won the Suomen paras asiakasteko 2024 award, is still our most popular service and has been used 1.8 million times. In addition, use of the Traffic Situation, Train Departures, and Feedback Channel services have developed favourably.
In the first quarter of 2025, 1.5 billion calls were made to Fintraffic’s Digitraffic services traffic data APIs (1.4 billion Q1/2024). Traffic bulletins, weather camera images and real-time traffic volume data are distributed through Digitraffic.
During the first quarter of the year, approximately 3.96 billion API calls (4,23 billion Q1/2024) were made to the Digitransit platform to gain access to public transport journey data. The decline in the number of API calls indicates that the interfaces have become more efficient: information is now available faster, more concisely and with fewer API calls. In addition, some of the information has been transferred to other services. Finnish public transport journey planners make extensive use of the shared knowledge base through the Digitransit platform.
“The update of our effectiveness study at the end of last year shows that our digital services create significant value for the transport data economy. We were particularly pleased that at the beginning of April, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment listed our work as a showcase example for the data economy growth programme,”, says Janne Lautanala, Chief Ecosystem and Technology Officer at Fintraffic.
Domestic and international air traffic picking up
Chinese airlines have moved to more southern flight routes, and overflights in Finnish airspace have decreased dramatically since the end of last year. At the beginning of the year, the number of overflights was at the 2023 level.
“During the first months of the year, overflight kilometres decreased by up to a quarter compared to last year. However, it is positive that the number of both domestic and international flights has been increasing significantly (7-8%) for the first time in a long while, and summer traffic looks good,” says Raine Luojus, CEO of Fintraffic’s Air Navigation Services.
Growth in road traffic volumes during the beginning of the year
In January-March, total road traffic volumes on main roads (highways and main roads) have increased from what they were during the same period last year: a growth of just over 3% in the number of cars and vans, and the volume of heavy goods vehicles has risen by just over 4%.
