Head of Finnish Railways hails new Ladoga railway station in Saint Petersburg

General Director of Finnish Railways (VR-Group Ltd) Henry Kuitunen has expressed his admiration for the Ladoga railway station which opened in Saint Petersburg in June, describing it as 'fantastic'. As the Russian Railways Ministry press office reports, he made this announcement yesterday during a meeting with Russian Railways Minister Gennady Fadeyev in Moscow. Mr Kuitunen also said he was pleased that the Ladoga station will be used for passenger trains between Russia and Finland.

The meeting between Mr Kuitunen and the Russian minister was devoted to the results of passenger and freight transportation between Russia and Finland in 2002 and the first half of 2003. They also spoke of the prospects for raising the level of rail transportation between the two countries.

The first long distance Moscow-Helsinki train to arrive at the Ladoga station was the Lev Tolstoi, which arrived in Saint Petersburg on the morning of June 11. From June 27 the new station is expected to receive and dispatch 19 pairs of long-distance and suburban trains every day.