The old Karelian railroad (Finnish: Karjalan rata) between Viipuri and Joensuu was a broad gauge line that used to link Joensuu, Sortavala, Hiitola, Antrea and Viipuri. Originally built in 1892-1894 by Finnish State Railways in the Grand Duchy of Finland, in the 1940s most of the railway up to Niirala was ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union in the Moscow Peace Treaty, Moscow Armistice and Paris Peace Treaty as a result of the Winter War and Continuation War. Now the track is located in Leningrad Oblast (Karelian Isthmus), Republic of Karelia and North Karelia. The Sortavala–Joensuu link across the border was abolished after the Continuation War, but was since restored and is currently in use for cargo traffic.
The decision to build a 311km (193miles) railway from Viipuri to Joensuu was made by the Diet of Finland in 1888. Work on the railroad started in 1890, immediately after the Savonia railroad was finished.
The track from Viipuri via Antrea to Vuoksenniska (79km (49miles)) was completed in November 1892, Antrea to Sortavala (139km (86miles)) in November 1893, and Sortavala to Joensuu (132km (82miles)) in October 1894. Six thousand men worked on the railroad at the height of construction in September 1892.[1]
A direct link between Hiitola and Finland Station in Petrograd, Russia, was opened in 1917, bypassing the Riihimäki-Petrograd railroad (see Saint Petersburg-Hiitola railroad).
The bombing of the Elisenvaara station of the Karelian railroad on 20 June 1944, during the final stages of the Continuation War, was the most fatal bombing in Finnish history; over one hundred civilians were killed when bombs hit a train of Karelian evacuees.[2]
After the Winter War and Continuation War Karelian Isthmus and Ladoga Karelia with Viipuri, Hiitola, Elisenvaara and Sortavala were ceded to the Soviet Union, and most stations of the line got to the Soviet side of the new border. In the Moscow Peace Treaty on March 12, 1940, Finland lost the section Viipuri–Antrea–Hiitola–Jaakkima–Sortavala–Matkaselkä–Värtsilä (240km (150miles)) to the Soviet Union. Only the Joensuu–Niirala section (71km (44miles)) remained in Finland.
Later, Finland has built a new railway leading from Luumäki on the old Riihimäki-Saint Petersburg railroad to Onkamo, which lies on the remaining Finnish part of old Viipuri–Joensuu railroad between Niirala and Joensuu. From Lappeenranta via Simpele to Elisenvaara, there was already a railroad before the war, and in 1947, a track was built from Simpele to Parikkala connecting this one and the old Savonlinna-Elisenvaara railroad, which also had been split by the new border. The sections from Luumäki to Lappeenranta and from Parikkala to Onkamo where built on the 1960s.
In Russia the railroad is used to ship petroleum to the ports of the Gulf of Finland as well as lumber and iron ore pellets from Karelia.
| Route | Time | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vyborg–Kamennogorsk | 1:20 | ||
| Vyborg–Kamennogorsk–Svetogorsk | 1:35 | ||
| Vyborg–Hiitola | 3:00 | ||
| Sortavala–Hiitola–Kuznecnoye | 2:20 | Sortavala to Hiitola | |
| 2:45 | Hiitola to Sortavala |