A SCENIC SNOWY RIDE ABOARD VR FINLAND'S FANTASTIC PENDOLINOS / KAJAANI TO HELSINKI IN FIRST CLASS
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- Опубликовано: 10 мар 2022
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Hello and welcome to Finland, for my first review from this stunning country!
Today we will be taking VR's flagship Pendolino tilting train in First Class from Kajaani in central Finland, down to the capital Helsinki. It's a very snowy day out there, which makes for some spectacular scenery... Enjoy the video!
Date of Filming: 2/2/22
Camera: GoPro Hero 10 Black
Operator: VR
Departure: Kajaani, Finland
Arrival: Helsinki, Finland
Cost: Eko (First) Class - €54.70 (£45.44, $60.69)
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Here is the link to my review on the Portuguese 'Alfa Pendular' Pendolino:
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It is pretty usual that trains a late in Kajaani, especially in winter conditions, if train came up to 30 minutes late, you can tell that it came in right time XD
Such a relaxing journey with lovely, quiet Finns. It feels like every time I get on a train in the UK there is either loud drunk people, screaming, badly behaved kids or both. haha.
Yeah it was very chilled. But yes you're right 😊
Very true, I live in Finland and taking train trips in UK is a dreaded experiance , overpriced, hardly ever free seating, cramped corridors, and ..the people especially on weekends and evenings
Hey I’m from south africa so the UK trains seem like the epitome of civilization 😹 I’ll make sure I keep quiet if I go visit Finland
Brother from anthor mother
On a daytime Pendolino trip, sure. But on a night train to Lapland during the winter holiday season we're a different bunch...
More proof that Finland is the best. Also i was having a stress attack when you were filming the Pendolino's front instead of getting on board.
Yeah I did hurry up after that shot 😂
Same here... I would definitely think twice if I am going to do the same "stunt"... 😂
As a Finn myself. Everytime i go with the train, i make sure that when i have the chance i will take the sm3 pendolino due to its fantastic quality. It indeed is my favorite train. One downside is the fact that the toilets are quite small but hey, still love the pendolino. Hope you had an amaizing experience with the sm3 sähkömato. "Electric snake"
I loved it, thank you! I love your country 🥰🇫🇮
I'm a Brit living in Finland - I love Finland - my cultural observations here ruclips.net/video/g5-xLvQ9KHg/видео.html
I am so very stealing that - the UK Class 700 series of trains are open from end-to-end. The name "electric snake" fits them well.
I just can’t connect quality and Pendolino 🙄 I try to avoid them as much as I can.
Personally, I don't like sm3 Pendolinos. Here's why:
-In my experience, the toilets seem to be out of order very often. I seem to find 2 adjacent toilets that are out of order in sm3 trains more often, than I find a single broken toilet in an IC train, even though I use IC for maybe 90% of my trips. Also, there are only 6 toilets in the entire train (compared to the 11 toilets on a 6 car IC train). Are the toilets on pendolinos much less reliable, or do I have just extremely bad luck?
-There are stairs when boarding the train, as well as narrow doors. Boarding times are slow, and it's difficult to get in and out with luggage.
-You can't travel with bicycle. Skis are technicly allowed, but practically they are not.
-They have much less seats than IC trains. Sm3 has a grand total of 284 seats. The shortest IC trains have 267 (3 cars) or 308 seats (4 cars), where as the more common IC trains have 421 (5 cars), 534 (6 cars) or 647 seats (7 cars)
Also, while on paper they should be faster than IC trains, they often end up being as fast or even slower than IC trains. The good thing about pendolinos is that if the service is run with a replacement train (due to failure in scheduling or technical malfunction), pretty much any IC train will have more seats than a pendolino. Also, IC replacement is likely as fast as the pendolino.
As someone who lives in the desert, I just loved seeing all the snow. Great video!
Must be very different 😃
I'm sure there's times when you still have to shovel (or sweep) it though...😁🇨🇦
As someone who live in Finland, i don't like seeing all the snow, especially when you walk out in morning and have snow till you knees and you need to dig way till you car and from your car till road
@@tsugumorihoney2288 I prefer snow over rain anytime. Nothing is more horrible than winter without snow.
@@tsugumorihoney2288 that's the best time of the year. You just know there's gonna be some powder on the slopes🤙
Refreshing to see someone actually complementing these Sm3 Pendolinos. :) They have a bad reputation here in Finland, and not completely without a reason. They had lots of teething problems in the 90's, when they tried to be the new flagship. Now the tilting has been disabled, they never got it to work reliable enough. When the trains work, they are a good ride, though. But compared to the modern double deck push-pull Intercity trains, there isn't much Pendolino flagshipness any more. The top speed is the same (apart from that one section between Lahti and Kerava), and there's more services on board the IC's.
As I said, a good train, but not anything special compared to the IC's, which most people prefer over this.
I found them good, but yes, the IC trains are very excellent ☺️
Italian service them during garantee time and don,t want to make changes what vr whish them to do. Whan vr started service pendolinos they fix problems
Pendolinos are just fine after first major overhaul. :) All child illnesses are fixed. Thing is that all fleets in Finland are prototypes and have prototype issues. Usually it's customers (VR) task to solve them. Like the "erotic" coupler. The original coupler did not work with all fancy hide away functions, but after replacement from Voith it has shown to bee reliable.
Yeah. On paper Pendolinos are better, but in practice I prefer double decker IC's. Pendolinos have narrower doors with stairs, which results in longer stops. It's also a bit of a pain if you have a wheelchair, pushchair, large pieces of luggage or have limited physical ability. It's also noteworthy, that you cannot take regular bicycles to Pendolino trains, and Pendolinos don't offer any racks for skis, snowboards etc. Pendolinos also have only 1 toilet and 1 phone booth per car located at one end of the car, where as IC's have 2 toilets and 2 phone booths per car, located around the door. Also, the view from the upper deck of IC cars is better. The downside of IC's is that if you want to visit other cars (such as the restaurant), you have to climb 2 short staircases and open 4 doors in each car you pass through, compared to 0 strairs and 4
Pendolino trains are as fast as InterCity trains. What ever minor gains they make between stations, they lose at the stations. Pendolinos also have quite small capacity (262 seats) compared to InterCity trains. Intercity's tend to have 4-7 double decker cars, with 309 seats (4 cars) / 425 seats (5 cars) / 541 seats (6 cars) / 657 seats (7 cars) in their typical configuration (Edo+CEd+ERd+Edfs+(0...3x)Ed. While this may not be an issue at times, the extra capacity is really needed during busy times (every friday afternoon, around holidays and any major events).
Pendolinos have some minor benefits, but many minor disadvantages compared to IC trains.
Pendolino's cabins are also small and that's why air quality is much worse sometimes.They also swing more and walking on narrow corridors is harder.
I would love to take a nice train ride to Finland in the snow and to see the breathtaking view from the window whilst on a nice warm train. Your videos are so incredible. Keep up the good work as always Nonstop Eurotrip.
Thank you Andrew 🙏🏻 very kind words, and yes, it's an incredible train and country 😄🇫🇮
😊
Thank you for this. As a boy, I traveled this route twice, once in a sleeper, and the other in the seating coach. I was visiting from Canada in 1971, and '77.
Kiitos!
Bet it was a bit different then! 😃
I’ve travelled once in Pendolinos first class the route Leppävaara-Turku. And I drank some coffee aswell. Maybe I put a lot of sugar in it, but yeah…
😂😂😂
Looking forward to see your next videos of our other trains! Thanks for reviewing this! 👍
Plenty more to come, thanks 🙏🏻🇫🇮
I love the cozy warm colors and stylish interior of First Class.
Absolutely 🤗
This looks so much like northern Canada and I knew it would! I guess that’s why my Finnish grandmother chose Canada when she left. 🇨🇦
Just more railways here 😂
Among the norwegian, swedish and finnish trips by train, this one is my favourite. Impressive. Thanks!
Great tour, thank's
Very tranquil and beautiful snow scenery, looks great👍🏻
Absolutely Mike 😃
Great video as always and another amazing trip report I enjoyed watching it and can't wait to see more videos from this beautiful Nordic country.
Thanks my friend! I can't wait to show everyone more off this beautiful country ☺️ ☃️🇫🇮
I love video of train dashing through the snow🥰
Superb report, as usual; most enjoyable & informative! Thank you.
Thank you Alberto 🙏🏻👍🏻
Lovely
Was für ein schöner Zug. Da macht das Reisen Spaß. 😊🤗👍
😄👍🏻
Not only another first class and entertaining video but Nonstop politely responds to every commenter, even the critics. Some other vloggers could do well to emulate. Most enjoyable, well done.
Very kind of you Tony 🙏🏻 If people take the time to leave a comment i think it's only polite to reply 🙂
Great video and trip report. VR Pendolinos look very comfortable and clean. I like to see a proper dining car on a train and that is great to see that facility in a 6 car pendolino. I like the look of their trains and the livery. I would like to see Finland by rail.
Thank you! Yeah you pretty much summed it up there, it's amazing! 🙂🇫🇮
Great video! It looked like a great trip with an elegant train and gorgeous scenery.
Absolutely Heather ☃️
i saw those bar tables/stand up tables in the dining cart and was very excited to see the engineering with the trashbag inside the table. Space saving and very smart.
Absolutely agree 😊
Been waiting for this!!!
🇫🇮😄🙏🏻
snowpiercer!
☃️🇫🇮
Brilliant review and insight into rail travel and infrastructure in Finland. Puts UK to shame when we get a flurry of snow ! Very enjoyable vlog. PUSB.
Thank you Norman, exactly my thoughts throughout my whole trip in Finland! Possibly my new favourite country in Europe too 😁👍🏻
I'm glad you enjoyed it, although the "regular" inter city trains are better in my opinion. They have all the same amenities but are larger and more modern and comfortable. They're even just as fast as the Pendolino
I agree, the normal ICs are great!
True, it's a pity there are so few sections where Pendolinos actually travel at their designed top speed.
@@oulalintula30 The only place where pendolinos can travel at their top speed is a 63 km section of track between Kerava and Lahti, and even there they don't need to, unless they are behind schedule. IC and pendolino services on that section of the track are scheduled to be equally fast (35 minutes from Tikkurila to Lahti). Allegro services were scheduled to be 3 minutes faster, utilizing the higher top speed, but they were for international travel only, and haven't been run for a while for obvious reasons.
But in reality, increasing track speeds for pendolino yield gains measured in minutes. Increasing track reliability (and speed up to 200 km/h) and building double tracking yields gains measured in tens of minutes. 5 years ago my most common train ride was 1h 54 min. First and last train of the day were a bit slower (waiting for connecting traffic and other trains to pass). Now most services take 2h 3min, but there is still one service doing it in 1h 55min (and it's an IC)
Great video!! That train announcer had such a divine voice!!! And the Art Deco station in Helsinki was stunning. I always look forward to your videos.
Thank you, glad you like it 😄🇫🇮
Fun fact. After Mikkeli you passed my mom's house. Hope you tested the IC2 Restaurant car's upper deck ;) it's my favorite place to travel with VR
Ah awesome 😎 And yes, I definitely tried the IC restaurant cars side facing seats! Video to follow 🇫🇮
Great video !!
Thanks!!
Amazing.
Thanks 🙏🏻
I love dashing through the snow on toasty warm fast train.
😁😁😁
Great journey in a great country like Finland.
Absolutely Michael ☺️
Awesome report!! I love snow and cold.
Beautiful scenery!! Thanx Max for sharing.😀♥️♥️
Glad you enjoyed it Scott 🙂☃️
@@NonstopEurotrip thank you. I think you enjoyed it too!!
@@scottyerkes1867 Yes I did 😂
The station is so quaint and cute 🥰. Very lovely 😊 👍👍👍👍👍
Oh absolutely ☺️
Gorgeous scenery
Thank you ☺️
Beautiful shot video!
Thanks 👍🏻
While its quite frustrating at times when VR is late, I do think the trains are clean and I do prefer them over car and planes.
What a beautiful wintry trip! Thanks for the lovely video. I have only taken the commuter trains between the airport and Helsinki station - but what a station! Worth a trip to FInland alone,
Thanks Linda 😁 Finland is very easy to travel all over, a great network and great trains 🥰🇫🇮
Great trip report
Thanks 🙏🏻
Thanks for snowy ride
You're welcome 😄
Well done as usual!
Thanks Andrew ☺️
excellent; thankyou
🙏🏻👌🏻
I have traveled by train in Finland since I was very little, in fact my favorite line is the Savo line. The Sm3 is indeed a very cozy train and it absolutely delivers comfortable and fast train rides, but I will always get nostalgic when I think about the blue wagon express trains that were standard back in the days.
Thanks for sharing 🙏🏻
So wonderful video with snow and Scandinavian views, I think this excellent channel must to have a millions of subscribers, I saw a lot channels about journey and trips by trains, buses, flights and more, but this one is one of the best, has exclusive content, no noisy with bloger all time talk on the video camera, very peaceful with good quality of videos. So I wish good luck!
I agree! Millions would be lovely 😂
I love Finland. I've been there many times. The people are fantastic. Thank you for your video; great train ride.
Thank you ☺️
😁 people not fantastic. Strange!! Şike rasist and cold. Till get alchol 🙂🙂 they not nice contact Whit people Whithout alchol. 👍 you don't know finland and people then. Also Swedish danish norway other eu contrys people understand that İ hear from everybody " They say very cold people. Cold county cold people"
Great video! Felt so warm and snug in the train as I looked out on the amazing scenery. Was up in Norway and Sweden in 2017 but not enough time to visit Finland, your video has definitely inspired me to get back to that region (perhaps in the summer? ☺).
You should, it's amazing! I'll be going to Norway for the first time soon ☺️
Finland is amazing during summer, definitely recommend it!
The ride quality looked really good.
It was, yes! 😎
I’ve taken a train from Helsinki to Koupo last year in the summer.
beautiful video about our "flagship" pendolino´s. as a Finn, i have traveled quite a bit in pendolino´s and my opinion on them is really fifty-fifty. one of the reasons are that there is actually two different types of them; refurbished (has terrible seats but a smoother running) and unrefurbished, what you got (has good seats but a bit vibrating on high speeds). i cant wait for your review on the Sm2 and Sm4´s, very nice trains. i would also recommend you to try our Eil-wawgons, they are high-floor commuter wagons from the 80´s, they have a chill vibe and have the best seats in any of our finnish trains. they run every monday to friday Kouvola-Helsinki-Kouvola, departing at Kouvola 6.30am and going back to kouvola from helsinki, departing at 16.35 from the main station. you can take a journey in them for a cheap commuter train ticket, around 4-8euros. thanks for the video and regards from finland.
Thanks for the information, and glad you liked the video 😊
I really want to see that snow fling by the train window myself. It looks fantastic 😍. It reminds me the film of 'Doctor Zhivago'. One day, I will visit in Finland, and I will enjoy the train trip myself. Thank you for your great job!
It's amazing 😁
very nice trip...
Thank you 😌
Bom dia um passeio gênio na neve abordo dos fantásticos pensolino kajaani
Thank you, nonstop eurotrip! What wonderful landscapes. What wonderful scenery. What magnificent views. That's exactly what I love. I am happy. I'm glad you showed us your trip. You made us enjoy an exceptional stay. You can see right away that it's good there. I was looking forward to a video like this. A nice train, a good team, a nice trip, what more could you ask for. Did you sleep well at the hotel? Salvation.
I thought you might this Louis! It was a beautiful trip in a stunning country on a fantastic train. The hotel was very nice too ☺️🇫🇮
@@NonstopEurotrip Thank you, nonstop eurotrip! Yes, you know my tastes. You've known me for a long time. And thank you for answering me, it's not like Dylan who forgot me.
Enjoyed it very much. Ohio thank you
Glad you enjoyed it 😃
Impressive - I even liked the livery (unusual for me as I tend to be a traditionalist). As always an informative and unbiased trip - thank you.
I like the livery too, yes! Glad you enjoyed the video Jon 😁
I'm from Mäntyharju and I'm glad this little place got mentioned. I would not have thought I would see it in some random video i clicked on RUclips.
🤣🤣🤣
11:43 nice shot on some Ponsse forest machines waiting to be loaded onto flatbed rail cars in the Iisalmi railway station. The Ponsse manufacturing plant is in Vieremä, near Iisalmi. These machines are probably going to the Vuosaari harbor to be further exported abroad, because Ponsse delivers the machines sold to Finland by road transport.
Ah thanks for the Information ☺️
This country is so beautiful 😍And this train is very fine 👌💯
Oh absolutely 😌
Great trip report! Looks like VR offers a great passenger product. Wish we had those in the US!
Yes they do David. Honestly when you see some of the other trains I've filmed too, my new favourite railway company 👍🏻☺️
I actually live In Finland. I had experienced that with my parents. Btw I am child
Premium filming and really nice recording of sound, in a couple on months I have the pleasure to get that nice sound when walking on snow. Everything from +20C to -10C is tolerable.
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
Yes I have travelled on VR many times, I used to commute from Hyvinkaa to Helsinki during the week, also often to Tampere and once to Rovaniemi, a fantastic service, puts the UK to shame.
I'd agree with all that lol 😂
Greetings from Skellefteå , Sweden
Greetings 😍
Its a great train, but I've got to say the IC trains are nicer, and the extra class on the is better. Still, these are really nice trains. Great video, looking forward to these trips from my home country!
I agree yes! They put so much thought into the ICs interior and it really works for everyone 🙂 especially the side facing seats 🤓🇫🇮
wow free coffee that's worth the upgrade straight away, looks amazing with all the snow. I'd have been on the buffet car straight away though lol
The snow was great ☃️ The upgrade is worth it for me to be able to film easier, in a quieter coach. The coffee was a bonus, thanks Matthew ☺️
Of course I have travelled with VR before. I live in Finland. I travelled Helsinki-Vaasa. I ate Pasta Carbonara in the restaurant car. It was tasty!
Excellent 👌🏻
Omg iisalmi my hometown
Nice video! I really like the painting scheme on those trains and the scenery is simply amazing.
From all the pendolinos you have tried so far, which one did you liked the most?
Me too! This one is the best of the old model pendolino 👍🏻🇫🇮
Muy interesante.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
Great job! Im honestly suprised that you dont already have a million subscribers!
Crazy isn't it! 😂🙏🏻
I am looking to do Narvik-Tornio-Kemi- Helsinki in the autumn. Appreciate your insights
Glad to be of assistance 😊
As a finn who lives alone I only travel by train but anywho Such a relaxing journey + those views❤❤ always why I have the chance to go on the Pendolino I CHOOSE IT👹👹 cuz it’s fantastic quality deffo my fave train although I does have some problems in the winter I don’t care its my fave if y’all come to Finland you should try the sm3 pendolino or “electric worm” sähkömato
I prefer the Skoda double deckers, especially on the upstairs of the dining car! 😀
You were lucky the toilet was working and there actually was any coffee in the thermos. :P But minor things aside, the Pendolino is a nice train. Although the 1st class comparments on all the double-decker InterCity cars have been refurbished so you can have pretty much the same experience on IC - and it's always on the upper deck. Highly recommended.
I've done that too 😃🇫🇮
I personally really like the upstairs of the new VR restaurant car. It has strange one person seats that are positioned sideways towards the windows and can spin. They're awkward to fit into and shift your legs in but I like them anyways.
Absolutely..I've already filmed a review on them.
@@NonstopEurotrip Ohh, sneaky teaser
Although this is a very nice cabin, I personally preferred the old blue ones which were built in West Germany in the 60's or the 70's. They had such a nice atmosphere and I remember taking one of those in the early 2000's as a kid when I travelled from Helsinki to Rovaniemi.
Fair enough 🙂
@@NonstopEurotrip Those old blue passenger cars had seats with the cushions sporting at least twice the thickness compared to the modern ones. You immediately sank a couple of inches in when you sat down (with only a little exaggeration). That's why they were so well-liked. I have visited some museum trains from pre-WW2 and noted the second class cars had wooden seats with no cushions. No idea about the first class, but I hope they were better. After such a level of "comfort", the Old Blues must have felt like Heaven for long distance travellers in the economy (2nd) class.
22:44 I live there!
A very decent and tranquile country
Absolutely 💯
You should test route helsinki-nurmes its great route for the amazing views!
Great video. Keep up the good work. The scenery is great and I would like to visit Finland and experience these train trips - they are certainly better than South African Railways or National Railways Zimbabwe! But I certainly will not visit in the Finnish winter - I could not cope with all that cold and snow; June will be ideal to see the midnight sun.
The snow is what makes it special in my opinion! 🇫🇮🇫🇮🇫🇮
Some pretty little station buildings! And Wow the entrance to Helsinki Central station is very ‘Norse’ with those carvings in the sides. Beautiful! 😊
Absolutely Sonja ☺️
Really cool trip! Please repeat in high summer so we can see all those crystal blue lakes that were frozen over on this trip. I've taken the Joensuu trip and many times to Rovaniemi. I see in Helsinki the statues of men holding globes had removed their masks.
Maybe 😇
Hope to cover this route, albeit starting in Kemi, as part of a loop over from Sweden & Norway. World events have nixed the Allegro portion east of Vainikkala, but still intend to stop at the National Ry Musuem in Hyvinkää
Yes! Sadly Allegro won't be thing for a long while now I fear! ☹️
i highly recommend you to check out the national railway museum and as far as i know, VR and RZD have no intensions to halt the Allegro, the opposite actually as they added a third train to componsate for the high demand now.
I travelled on an old loco hauled train back in 1996 from Turku to Helsinki. Seats in Standard much nicer than the first class on those Pendalinos. Norwegian ones were amazing too. You could kick a pedal and turn the direction of the 2+2 seats, facing each other or facing the other direction. Train reverses direction, you could then turn the bank of seats to face that direction.
Yes this is very common in older coaches, much rarer nowadays outside of Spain
@@NonstopEurotrip It wasn't just the setbacks though like on trams, the whole seat unit turned on a pivot.
Didn t know Finland had a high speed train
Nice video
Thank you 🙏🏻
We don't.
Well - it depends on your definition on "high speed".
Enjoyed this video but as a knitter my eye was drawn (and I paused over) the lady with the knitted jumper when you went for lunch on tje dining car lol
Haha I didn't even notice that 😂
❤🎉
That's quite the decoration for the toilet...
Love a dining car. Can't beat eating on a train...
What relation are these pendolinos to the Portuguese ones?
Basically the same train as the Portuguese ones, but a bit better imo. And obviously better toilets and dining ☺️🇫🇮
When in Helsinki did you visit Suomenlinna Fortress? It's amazing! And the ferry trip too and from it is scenic too. I agree about the airport service, swift, efficient and clean.
I haven't, but I'm back there soon 👍🏻☺️
Great micro-brewery & restaurant too
@@nigelwatson2750 Oh yeah. I had a really nice Porter there. Pricey though.
@@ravenfeeder1892 That's Helsinki for you. Get out of there to see the best of Finland 🇫🇮
Dude you're too underrated for some amazing videos like this! you deserve way more subscribers! Greetings from Finland
Tell me about it lol 🤣
The Pendolinos are good, but I'd much rather be on one of the double-decker trains. Upstairs above the restaurant, in one of the sideways-facing seats, with a Karhu and a carbonara, just watching the world go by. The part with the kids' play area is best avoided if you like peace and quiet!
Can't beat the upstairs en-suite cabins on the night trains, either. Not only a genius swinging wall that turns toilet+sink into shower, but even a strap on the wall for your skis. :)
I've done that too ☺️
Almost all manned ticket offices has closed except Helsinki and Tampere stations. VR has completely lack of service and you must do almost all things yourself. Ekstra class is where that should be because your train change direction in Kouvola station so Ekstra class car is front when you go from Kouvola to Helsinki.
Thanks for the info! Still the sign in kajaani should say what way round the train enters that station, not Helsinki
Hi, I found your channel yesterday and I'm really enjoying all the videos I've watched so far. Unfortunately, here in Brazil there is no great rail network. Although the first railroad was built in 1844, Brazil has few active railroads. There are still some tourist lines with "Maria Fumaça" ("Smoking Mary" - I don't know how to translate it in English, they are 19th century coal machines) trains and a few more long-distance ones. I would like to comment on some aspects, please:
a) during the seventies and eighties I always heard that trains in Europe were a cheap way to travel. But since I started traveling to Europe in 2011, I have found train tickets much more expensive than buses, with the exception of metropolitan lines.
b) despite this, I have traveled about fifty times by train, and I would like to highlight: the beautiful Barcelona-Sitges line along the Catalan coast; the curious seat numbering system on Portuguese trains; the ineffectiveness of online sales at the Spanish Renfe company, which does not accept international cards (at least it does not accept Brazilian ones, this is a general complaint); the Paris-Provins line (a beautiful medieval city) is really worth it, which is "free" for those who have the Paris weekly transport pass.
Best wishes.
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the video and thanks for your comment. Train travel can be very affordable if booked in advance, or if using an interrail or eurail pass 😄
The Extra class is not in my experience considered as a major upgrade (when looking at the physical product) from just the standard seats.
I think most people who buy this upgrade just want the extra peace that might come from reduced demand. It is also a way to have a ticket on to an otherwise full train.
So it isn't really about the slightly better seats and free coffee (+newspapers on some trains). Great video.
I agree, while the visual blockers or whatever on the IC trains are nice, and it feels more premium with nicer seats, the best thing about Extra class is that it is quiet and peaceful.
I think the extra class seats are the same seat as standard class but just more legroom and 2+1 config instead of 2+2. They could at least have wider seats and more space between the double seats (2x armrests for example). They upgraded the intercity trains to be like that (before the upgrade the intercity extra class was a standard coach with 2+2 seats with extra legroom but only 2+1 were reservable .. confusing for almost everybody when they see 2+2 seats but you're not supposed to sit in one of them!).
4:47 those couplers are unique to the Finnish version .. before they were fully developed, there was A LOT of trouble with winter uncoupling/coupling of units on the trip as some trains require splitting/rejoining.
Excellent thank you 😊
At some point they stopped coupling trains during journeys, but I don't know if they have continued this practice after modifying the couplers. I haven't seen this for a while, but I'm fairly certain that there still is some service(s) that uncouple at Tampere, though I'm not sure.
The only services that I know to couple/uncouple during a trip are sleeper trains from Helsinki to Rovaniemi and Kolari. They add/remove cars at Pasila, Tampere and Oulu, and they reserve quite a bit of time for this (20 minutes at Pasila, 45 minutes at Tampere, 35 minutes at Oulu), and they still are likely to add delays. This is accounted for in the schedule to some extent by adding up to 1-2 hours of slack into some stops (these are disguised as smoking/dog walking stops) and travel speed.
@@thelanittaja4765 Those are regular services, not Pendolino services though.
I think they solved the winter coupling problems fully in the end, but it was a long journey there.
@@thelanittaja4765 The practice of coupling trains together has been stopped due to unrealiability. However, uncoupling is still in use, as it is much more reliable, and it is regularly done in Kouvola for service S7, which splits into S7 (to Joensuu) and S69 (to Kajaani). The stop is scheduled to take only 4 minutes for the leading Sm3 unit. The unit heading to Kajaani sits at the station for about an hour. It needs to change direction, but for other services this takes about 10 minutes. I guess the long stop is more about scheduling, not so much about technical needs.
Great video! Did the train change its running direction at some point as it seemed that car 1 was running in the front when arriving at Helsinki? Is "running" the correct term for that?
Yes it did, but I can't remember where lol 🤣
@@NonstopEurotrip It was Kouvola. BTW, you can travel between Kuopio (but not directly from Kajaani) and Helsinki via a western route as well. It goes from Pieksämäki to Jyväskylä and Tampere. It adds another hour to the trip, but depending on the dynamics of ticket pricing, might not even be any more expensive. Oh, and the train changes its running direction at Tampere as well, so you have to plan accordingly, if you want the shortest possible walk at the Helsinki station. 😄
The car nr 1 (or the lowest number) is always the one heading South towards Helsinki - at least at the Helsinki end.
If you use the Western route up North and back, it stays the same all the way.
As a finn, i regularly travel with VR trains, and since i am student, the extra class student price is usually really close to the adult eko class price, so i take the extra class for the single seats and more peaceful journey. At least in IC trains the toilets are also much better and cleaner than the toilets in eko class areas, i haven't used pendos recently enough to remember how they compare
Excellent! I'd still take the upstairs dining car side facing seats on the InterCity 😍
Kajaani station ticket office have been closed since August 2, 2014, it has been replaced by a ticket machine.
Oh thank you 🙏🏻
Love from Pakistan.
hah, cant wait until the ekstra class seats get replaced with the new seats, imo the new ones are so much better
Will be great!!