Safety of transport of dangerous goods (railways)
The situational picture examines the safety of the transport of dangerous goods. The data are updated once a year. The information is produced by the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency Traficom.
In 2024, around 2.2 million tons of dangerous goods were carried by rail in Finland. This was clearly more than in the year before, in which the volume of dangerous goods was approx. 1.75 million tonnes. When examined over a longer period, however, the volume of dangerous goods transported by rail remained at a relatively low level. As lately as the turn of the 2020s, around 5 million tonnes of dangerous goods were transported each year. The reasons for the reduced transport volumes include the COVID-19 pandemic and the start of Russia’s war of aggression.
Most (86%) of the dangerous goods on Finnish railways are transported by VR Group Plc. In 2024, North Rail Oy transported dangerous goods in addition to VR Group Plc.
A total of five leaks associated with the transport of dangerous goods occurred in 2024, three on the state-owned railway network and two on a private network.
A train with a dangerous goods wagon was involved in one significant accident, in which a freight train collided with the contact line of a fallen electric railway pylon. This accident was classified as significant as it resulted in a traffic interruption of more than six hours on the main line. In addition to the significant accident, trains with dangerous goods wagons were involved in a few accidents and incidents in 2024. They did not result in leaks of dangerous substances, however.
The legislation on the transport of dangerous goods was amended in 2023. Under section 33 of the new Act on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (Finlex), the infrastructure manager must, together with railway undertakings and other operators in the area, draw up an internal emergency plan for the loading and unloading sites or temporary storage areas of dangerous goods, which is approved by Traficom. In 2024, only one internal emergency plan was approved due to the small number of applications. This situation was probably influenced by the 18-month transition period after the entry into force of the Act.