Finland Station

59°57′20″N 30°21′24″E / 59.95556°N 30.35667°E / 59.95556; 30.35667Owned byRussian RailwaysOperated byOctober RailwayLine(s)Saint Petersburg Railway DivisionPlatforms5 (island platforms)Tracks10Connections Ploshchad LeninaConstructionParkingYesArchitectPyotr Kupinsky^[1]Other informationStation code03820IATA codeFVSFare zone0HistoryOpened1870^[2]Rebuilt1960Electrified1952Original companyFinnish State Railways (now VR Group)Passengers12 million p.a. Services

Preceding station	Russian Railways			Following station
Lanskaya towards Riihimäki		Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg		Terminus
Lanskaya towards Beloostrov		Saint Petersburg–Beloostrov
Kushelevka towards Khiytola		Saint Petersburg–Hiitola

St Petersburg–Finlyandsky (Russian: Станция Санкт-Петербург-Финля́ндский Stantsiya Sankt-Peterburg-Finlyandskiy, in spoken language usually just Russian: Финля́ндский вокзал Finlyandskiy vokzal, "Finland Station") (IATA: FVS), is a railway station in St. Petersburg, Russia, handling transport to westerly destinations including Helsinki and Vyborg.

The station is most famous for having been the location where Vladimir Lenin returned to Russia from exile in Switzerland on 16 April 1917 (N.S.), ahead of the October Revolution.

The main entrance to the metro station Ploshchad Lenina is in the main building of Finland Station.

History

Finland Station was built by Finnish State Railways as the eastern terminus of the Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway. It was designed by Swedish architects and opened in 1870. The station formerly contained a special pavilion for Russian royalty.

The station was owned and operated by Finnish Railways until early 1918, when the last train, carrying station personnel and equipment, as well as some of the last Finns escaping revolutionary Russia, left for Finland. Later, ownership of the station was exchanged for Russian property in Finland, including the Alexander Theatre in Helsinki.

The station is famously known for the arrival of Vladimir Lenin by train from Switzerland on 3 April 1917 (O.S.). The event is commemorated by the Soviet statue of Lenin dominating the square in front of the station. This event is also referred to in the title of Edmund Wilson's book To the Finland Station (1940), a well-known study of revolutionary thought.

After the turmoil of the July Days, when workers and soldiers in the capital clashed with government troops, Lenin had to flee to Finland for safety, to avoid arrest. Lenin secretly returned from Finland disguised as a railway worker and protected by Eino Rahja and Alexander Shotman on 9 August 1917. Both times Lenin crossed the Russian–Finnish border on engine #293 driven by Finnish engineer Hugo Jalava. The steam locomotive was donated by Finland to the Soviet Union in 1957 and is now installed as a permanent exhibit at one of the platforms on the station.

During the siege of Leningrad in 1941–43, the Finland station was the only Leningrad rail terminus that remained in use. The railway would connect Leningrad with a station near the western shore of Lake Ladoga, at which supplies from the non-occupied parts of the Soviet Union would arrive from across the lake, by boat or over the lake ice, via the so-called Road of Life.

In the 1950s, the old station building was demolished and replaced with a new one, inaugurated in 1960. The turreted building is decorated with sculptures glorifying the October Revolution and incorporates a portico preserved from the original 1870 edifice.

Before dawn on Wednesday 1 April 2009, a bomb exploded in the statue of Lenin, creating an 80–100 cm hole in the back of the statue.^[3]

Trains and destinations

Country	Destinations
Russia	Vyborg, Sestroretsk, Zelenogorsk, Primorsk, Priozersk
Finland1	Helsinki

¹ — all trips to/from Finland are suspended, because of sanctions against Russia due to invasion of Ukraine.^[4]

In popular culture

"West End Girls", a 1984 song by Pet Shop Boys, contains the lyric "From Lake Geneva to the Finland Station". The song's co-writer, Neil Tennant, has a well-known interest and background in history (subject of his degree), particularly that of Russia. This line refers to the train route taken by Vladimir Lenin when he was smuggled by the Germans to Russia during the First World War, a pivotal event in the Russian Revolution.^[5] Edmund Wilson's book To the Finland Station, which Tennant most likely had read, may have also influenced this song's line.

Route maps

v t e Local lines and fare zones from Finlyandsky Rail Terminal
Legend
Svetlogorsk Lesogorsky Prudy Kamennogorsk Hannilla Mogino Vozrozhdeniye Borovinka Gvardeyskoye Krasny Sokol Lenijarvi Buslovskoye Borodinskoye Luzhaika Sortavala Vysotsk Zhitkovo Pikhtovoye Veshchevo Matrosovo Perovo Sokolinskoye Kuznechnoye 16 14 Vyborg 152 km Popovo 148 km (Kapeasalmi) 16 Sovetsky Priozersk 15 Pribylovo Sinevo 14 Bor Myullyupelto 14 Primorsk Otradnoye 13 Lazorevka Volkhovstroy I Verkhnecherkasovo 119 km 13 117 km 115 km 12 Lebedevka Pupyshevo Gavrilovo 106 km Sukhodolye Yermilovo Gromovo 12 106 km Losevo 11 Kuolemajarvi Leypyasuo Novy Byt 11 Kirillovskoye Voybokalo 10 Tarasovskoye 86 km Petjajarvi 10 Yappilya 78 km (79 km) 9 Mesterjarvi Sosnovo Zakhodskoye Kanneljarvi 73 km Zhikharevo 9 Gorkovskoye Nazia 8 72 km 69 km 70 km 67 km Privetenskoye Orekhovo 8 Molodyozhnaya 7 63 km Nevskaya Dubrovka Roshchino 37 km Teplobetonnaya Ushkovo Chernaya Rechka Lembolovo 54 km Apraksin Vaskelovo Mikhaylovskaya 7 47 km Mga 6 Gruzino 45 km Zelenogorsk Gory Pavlovo-na-Neve Ladozhskoye ozero Geroyskaya 44 km Sady Vaganovo Petrokrerost Borisova Griva 19 km 6 39 km Irinovka 5 Peri Rakhia Oselki Proba Ostrovki 20 km Manushkino Komarovo 16 km Repino 19 km Solnechnoye Dunay Kurort Radchenko 5 Sestroretsk Kirpichny zavod 4 Razliv Shcheglova Tarkhovka Kornevo Alexandrovskaya Romanovka Gorskaya Koltushi Myaglova Beloostrov Kavgolovo 4 Toksovo 4 Kuzmololovo 7 km 3 Kapitolovo 5 km Dibuny Zanevsky post Pesochnaya Melnichny Ruchey Levashovo Vsevolozhskaya Pargolovo Berngardovka Lisy Nos Kovalevo Olgino Post Kovalevo Lakhta Lavriki Yakhtennaya Devyatkino 3 Staraya Murino 2 Novaya Derevnya Ruchyi Shuvalovo Rzhevka Ozerki Udelnaya Piskaryevka 2 Lanskaya Kushelevka 1 Saint Petersburg- Finlyandsky 0 Fare zone

v t e RZhD, OktZhD, SPbZhD, Russia Saint Petersburg Finlyandsky–Beloostrov through Sestroretsk
Legend
Vyborg Zelenogorsk Solnechnoye line Sestroretsk spur line (1871-1873) line Miller's line (1873-1886) To Sestroretsk 42.7 43.0 Beloostrov Pesochny Lanskaya Finlyandsky Rail Term. 42.9 Novoye shosse Beloostrov 39.6 Sestra crossover Sestra line Sestroretsk spur line (1871-1873) line Miller's line (1873-1886) 39.4 Beloostrov (1871-1886) 39.1 Sestroretsk (1871-1886, 1916-1924) line Sestroretsk spur line (1871-1873) line Miller's line (1873-1886) line Zavodskaya line (1916-1924) 39.3 Old line of road M-10 Sestr. Saint Petersburg Vyborg 34.4 Dyuny crossover M10 Line Sestroretsk line Primorskaya railway Dyuny Shkolnaya 38.1 Zavodskaya sestra cr. Z. s. 37.7 Kurort 36.4 Sestroretsky Kyrort Miller's pier 36.3 Line Miller's line (1873-1886) 36.2 Sestroretsk 36.1 Yermolovsky prospect Sestroretsk 35.7 Sestroretsk armory 35.2 Voskov street Sestroretsk Line Dubki horse-iron road (1847-bf 1870) Sestroretsk armory (1847-bf 1870) Dubkovsky pier 35.1 Sestroretsk railway station 34.7 Liteyny bridge Vodoslivnoy channel Vyborg Saint Petersburg 34.4 Sestroretsky crossover M10 highway 33.3 Razliv 31.5 Tarkhovka 18.1 Tarkhovskaya street Tarkhovka 30.1 Alexandrovskaya 29.0 Gorskaya 28.9 Gorskaya crossover KAD 28.3 Export goods for Spb Dam To Kronshtadt before 1928 28.3 Lisy Nos, before 1928 25.3 Lisy Nos 21.8 Morskaya 1.5 2.3 North-West Thermal Power Plant 18.2 Olgino 18.1 Konnolakhtinsky prospect Olgino 17.1 Lakhta 17.1 Granichnaya street Lakhta 15.5 Lakhtinsky crossover Lakhtyinsky r. 13.0 Yakhtennaya 12.6 Planerny crossover Planernaya st. Kirovskaya Small October railway Sub Staraya Derevnya Line 4 10,4 Staraya Derevnya 10.3 Torfyanaya doroga 9.4 Serebryakov pereulok 8.5 Akademik Shimansky street 8.3 Chyornaya rechka cr. Chyornaya R. Severny factory 7.7 Novaya Derevnya Objects 1893 line Ozerki line Ozerki Kolomuagi Skachki line Tovarnaya line Primorsky - goods Primorsky Rail Terminal 7.5 7.5 Kolomyazsky prospect 7.4 line Tovarnaya line Serdobolsky stop Finlyandsky Rail Terminal 7.2 Omskaya street Vyborg Beloostrov Udelnaya 5.0 Lanskaya St Lanskaya station civil engineering works To Kushelevka 4.2 Zemledenchesky crossover Zemledench. 4.0 1st Murinsky crossover 1st Murinsky To Kushelevka line Tovarnaya line Primorsky - goods Primorsky Rail Terminal Serdobolsky stop 3.0 Flyugov post (1924-1931) line Tovarnaya line Finlyandsky Rail Terminal Baburin post 3.5 Kantemirovsky crossover Kantem. line Tovarnaya line Primorsky Rail Terminal Flyugov post 3.2 3.1 A. Matrosov crossover A. Matr. st. 2.7 Lesnoy crossover Lesnoy prospect 1.7 Traction Depot 1.6 Locomotive Depot 1.6 Locomotivnoye Depot Finlyandsky - Goods Sub Ploshchad Lenina Line 1 0.0 Finlyandsky Rail Terminal Saint Petersburg Distances in kilometers

See also

• Emperor railway station, Pushkin town

References

External links

Media related to Finlyandsky Rail Terminal at Wikimedia Commons