The Allegro trains that operated between Helsinki and St. Petersburg have not run since March 2022. The service was stopped following Russia's attack on Ukraine and resulting sanctions against Russia.
Finland's state railways VR announced on Thursday that it has redeemed the joint venture's loans and taken possession of the trains.
There are four train units with seven carriages. Each train has 342 passenger seats and the tilting high-speed trains have a top speed of 220 kilometers per hour, according to VR.
The trains have been owned by a joint venture between Finland's state railways VR and Russian Railways. According to VR, the Russian owner has repeatedly neglected its financial obligations towards that joint venture.
VR says that more than a year and a half of negotiations between the joint venture parties did not yield results, and in June 2023, the joint venture could no longer pay its loans.
In order to avoid bankruptcy of the joint venture, VR redeemed outstanding debts and obtained the right to take its assets as security for the loans from Finnish financiers who funded the trains.
Since traffic to Russia stopped, the trains have been at VR's depot and require technical inspections and maintenance work before they can be taken into use on domestic routes.
VR intends to deploy the trains to meet the growing demand in long-distance rail traffic in Finland starting from 2025.
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