| Nastola | |
| Type: | VR station |
| Style: | VR Group |
| Address: | Pysäkinkuja 10, 15560 |
| Borough: | Nastola, Lahti |
| Country: | Finland |
| Coordinates: | 60.9358°N 25.935°W |
| Line: | Lahti–Kouvola railway |
| Structure: | Ground station |
| Platform: | 2 side platforms |
| Tracks: | 2 |
| Parking: | Yes |
| Bicycle: | Yes |
| Opened: | 2005 |
| Code: | Nsl |
| Owned: | Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency |
| Passengers: | 8,000 [1] |
| Pass Year: | 2016 |
| Mapframe: | y |
| Mapframe-Zoom: | 13 |
The Nastola railway station (Finnish: Nastolan rautatieasema, Swedish language: Nastola järnvägsstation) is located in the city of Lahti (formerly the municipality of Nastola) in the Päijänne Tavastia region, in Finland. The station is located in the centre of the urban area of Nastola, and the distance from the Lahti railway station is 15.7 kilometres and that from the Kausala railway station is 23.6 kilometres.[2]
After the opening of the Villähde in 1888, the area of the municipality of Nastola had two stations on the Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway, with Uusikylä being one of the original ones of the line. In 1904, representatives from the municipality made an appeal to the Railway Administration concerning the possibility of founding a halt in the parish village. As the municipality did not necessarily see the new halt as economically justified for the State Railways, it pledged to back private parties in constructing and maintaining the halt, should the municipality be given permission to do so. The Nastola halt was opened in 1905, approximately 1.5km (00.9miles) away from the Nastola church.[3] [2]
In December 1906, the municipality made another appeal to the Railway Administration, this time concerning the promotion of the halt to a pysäkki. Local salesman K. Kilpeläinen was chosen to push the cause, providing several reasons for the need to promote the halt:[3]
In spite of these reasons, the appeal was not accepted by the Railway Administration at the time, which cited a low amount of potential traffic as a reason.[3] However, as ticket sales services were initiated in Nastola in 1926, the overall amount of trips made from the area of the municipality increased. This was in spite of the halt only selling class II and III tickets to Lahti and Kouvola, as well as Helsinki.[4] In the interwar period, freight services were initiated in Nastola, as the halt was promoted to the status of a laiturivaihde – a halt with a rail yard containing at least one switch.[2]
The industrial area in Nastola was built in the post-war period, and numerous larger companies began relocating there in the 1960s. The industrial zone was served by a siding stretching from the laiturivaihde in Nastola to the Uusikylä station. Passenger services in Nastola ceased in 1970, and it was made an unmanned operating point in the following year.[2]
The Nastola stop was rebuilt in 2005 in an effort to move the passenger traffic role of the Uusikylä station to a location that would better serve the majority of the population of the municipality. As of 2010, with the reopenings of Uusikylä and Villähde, the Nastola area is home to three active railway stations.[5]
Nastola is served by all commuter trains on the route Lahti–Kouvola, and some of these services are operated from or continue towards Kotka as well. The intermediate stations between Lahti and Kouvola are also served by all but one rush hour service on the route Helsinki–Lahti–Kouvola.[6] The station does not have ticket sale services nor a VR ticket vending machine, though it does have 55cm (22inches) high platforms, allowing accessible entry to low-floor trains.[7]