[diftraku]

It's a very similar case in Finland, case-in-point when HRT (Helsinki Region Transport) requested bids from operators to run the trains in the greater capital area (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and the neighbouring municipalities).

- Rolling stock is owned by HRT

- Transport Infrastructure Agency (Väylävirasto) is responsible for the tracks and stations

Which means the bid is mainly for personnel operating the trains.

There were couple companies that placed bids for this, most of them withdrew before the end of the call, essentially leaving one competing bid along with VR's (then and now current operator).

In the end, nothing changed and VR still operates the trains using HRT's own rolling stock. The only real change going forward are the plans to have a dedicated maintenance depot for HRT's own stock, since VR does not want to have the burden of maintaining stock they don't directly own.

At least with freight, it's going to be different... right?

[jabl]

There's a law giving HRT the right to handle rail operations in the Helsinki metropolitan area. In the rest of the country VR has a monopoly, and sadly seems completely uninterested in developing commuter rail services in other metropolitan areas. As a result, there are efforts to amend the law to allow other regional authorities the same kind of rights HRT has. We'll see what happens.