VR Group, the state owned Finnish travel, logistics and infrastructure engineering service company, has reported a challenging start to the year in its 2015 Q1 results.
VR Group reported overall turnover for passenger services decreased during the first quarter by 5.6 percent. The Group attributed the reduction to the challenging situation in domestic long-distance services and increased competition in mass transit services. The weak economy was also said to have played a significant role in demand as well as the decline in traffic between Finland and Russia due to a weak rouble and the crisis in the Ukraine.
Overall rail journeys grew by 0.5 percent; this was reportedly due to commuter services which increased in line with set targets.
Turnover for VR Track, a subsidiary of VR Group and Finland’s largest rail constructor, saw a year-on-year increase of 9.1 per cent in Q1. This increase was primarily due to growth in Swedish and Finnish maintenance operations.