In service 2010– Constructed 2009–2011 | Family name Pendolino Entered service 2010 | |
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Allegro is a high-speed train service between Helsinki, Finland, and St. Petersburg, Russia. The service started on 12 December 2010. The aim is to reduce travel time between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg: before Allegro, the journey time was 5½ hours; currently it is 3 hours and 36 minutes and there are plans to bring it down to 3 hours. The name Allegro is a musical term for a quick tempo, thereby suggesting "high speed".
Contents
Route
Allegro connects the following stations:
The trains also stopped previously in Pasila like every other passenger train from and to Helsinki, but this stopping was discontinued on 27 March 2016.
Vainikkala (on the Finnish side of the border) and Vyborg are special stations: on trains bound for Finland, passengers are not allowed to leave the train at Vyborg, as the train only stops to pick up passengers; and on trains bound for Russia, passengers are not allowed to leave the train at Vainikkala, for the same reason.
Passport and custom controls
On board the train, each passenger is visited by Finnish passport control and customs officers, as well as their Russian counterparts.
Finnish border control takes place while the train is travelling between Kouvola and Vainikkala, while Russian border control takes place while the train is travelling between Vyborg and St Petersburg. If boarding/exiting at Vainikkala or Vyborg, the checks take place inside these stations.
Vehicles
The Allegro service is operated using Class Sm6 trainsets built by Alstom. Sm6 stands for electric multiple unit (Finnish: sähkömoottorijuna, literally 'electric motor train') model 6.
The Sm6 appears similar to VR's earlier Sm3 Pendolino series, but is based on the fourth generation 'Pendolino Nuovo' or 'New Pendolino' designs and its construction differs from the Sm3 in many ways.
The top speed of the train in passenger traffic is 220 km/h (140 mph) and the train can run at a speed of at least 200 km/h (120 mph) between Tikkurila and Luumäki and Vyborg and St. Petersburg after extensive rail works. The aim is to reduce travel time between Helsinki and Saint Petersburg from 5½ hours to 3 hours. The travel time as of 2012 was 3:36.
The Sm6 is equipped to operate on both the Finnish and the Russian railway networks. The units have dual-voltage electrical equipment able to use both the Finnish 25 kV 50 Hz alternating current and the Russian 3 kV direct current electrification. The wheelsets are built to run at over 200 km/h (120 mph) speeds on both the Finnish 1,524 mm (5 ft) and the nominally slightly narrower Russian 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 27⁄32 in) gauge, and the doors are equipped with a retractable step to make boarding from both Finnish 550 mm (21.7 in) high and Russian 1,100 mm (43.3 in) high platforms easy. The units are equipped for both the Finnish and Russian railway technical systems, which differ substantially.
On board services
Russian-Finnish cooperation
The trains are owned by Karelian Trains, a 50–50 joint venture between VR Group (Finnish Railways) and Russian Railways (RZD). The trains are able to run on both Finnish and Russian tracks.
On board the inaugural service were Finnish president Tarja Halonen and Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin.