Track damage cancels all Finnish long-distance trains on Tuesday 13.2.

[CarrotPie]

After today's strike, now this: https://www.vr.fi/en/news/2024/02/1...ng-distance-cancellations-tuesday-13-february

For safety reasons, VR is cancelling long-distance train services on Tuesday 13 February due to track damage. The track damage was discovered on Monday 12 February and is currently being repaired together with the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency. HSL (A, E, I, K, L, P, U, and Y trains) and VR commuter services (R, G, Z, O, M, H, T, and D trains) will run as normal - the problem has been isolated to the area and the fleet used in the area.

On Monday, 12 February, notches caused by track damage were found in the wheels of both VR's fleet and fleet owned by other parties. An inspection of the railway network and VR's fleet was started immediately, but Monday's strike has significantly slowed down the process of resolving the situation. For safety reasons, we have had to cancel long-distance train services on Tuesday in order to check the condition of the fleet and track. HSL and VR commuter services will run as normal, freight traffic will be able to run at lower speeds.

Edit: The damage has been located between Lahti and Kouvola - source (in Finnish). Apparently the line will be ready for traffic again later today (13.2), but VR is still checking its fleet.

Edit 2: All of their fleet that's outstabling at places other than Ilmala or Nokela depots is now moving back all at once this morning, as shown on this screenshot of Julia.

Edit 3: After inspecting over 700km of track overnight, Väylävirasto (track owner) have found the defect between Kouvola and Lahti (article, in Finnish). Apparently it has caused serious wheel flats across the fleet. It's open to traffic again, but with a speed restriction until it gets fixed.

 

[duesselmartin]

one does wonder what kind of "track damage" causes such flats without being noticed by the driver in the location?

 

[CarrotPie]

one does wonder what kind of "track damage" causes such flats without being noticed by the driver in the location?

Apparently a driver did notice it on Tuesday. Here's a picture from Yle's article.

 

[rf_ioliver]

one does wonder what kind of "track damage" causes such flats without being noticed by the driver in the location?

There are some interesting thoughts on this; one that might be interesting is a software fault causing slippage.

The checks have been extensive because of the amount of rolling stock that passed over that point showing damage. About half the services ran today.

 

[CarrotPie]

The checks have been extensive because of the amount of rolling stock that passed over that point showing damage.

VR says over 70% of their fleet passed over the damage.

There are some interesting thoughts on this; one that might be interesting is a software fault causing slippage.

One wonders whether it could be related to the Sr2s, the bastions of snow-based reliability that they are.

T2898 suspiciously stopped for over half an hour at the exact location of the damage on Friday...not that I'm saying anything, of course!


Update 16.2.
The train that caused the track damage has been confirmed as T 2898, which had a locomotive fault (I believe wheelslip-related) at that exact location at about 1100 on Friday 9.2. T 7124 (operated by Fenniarail) apparently reported a rough ride about 2230 that evening, but a separate fault was found some distance away, instead of the main fault, which wasn't discovered until Monday 11.2.

Here's a link to the article (in Finnish).