Skip to main content

Mobile transport information across the Finnish–Russian border

The smart transport corridor between Helsinki in Finland and St Petersburg in Russia will bring new services for passengers, car drivers and public transport. Development of the Vedia multi-service concept, led by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Vediafi, unites newly opened mobile services that will result in smoother passenger traffic across the Finnish–Russian border and enhance passenger experience and traffic safety. Vedia multi-service is a key element of the Finnish–Russian intelligent
April 16, 2014 Read time: 2 mins
The smart transport corridor between Helsinki in Finland and St Petersburg in Russia will bring new services for passengers, car drivers and public transport. Development of the Vedia multi-service concept, led by 814 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Vediafi, unites newly opened mobile services that will result in smoother passenger traffic across the Finnish–Russian border and enhance passenger experience and traffic safety.

Vedia multi-service is a key element of the Finnish–Russian intelligent transport spearhead project which will create new intelligent transport services for passenger traffic crossing the border, in a collaboration involving authorities, research institutes and enterprises.

The first phase of services include information in road weather and driving conditions, an automatic system issuing bulletins and warnings on traffic disruption, a real-time traffic and congestion information service, and a public transport information service. This service will be available to road and railway transport users, but will later also cover other forms of transport.

For train travellers, Vedia services will become available in the fast Allegro trains between Helsinki and St Petersburg. The services will be implemented on the Finnish National Railway Company on-board wireless internet and will provide passengers with additional information on journey progress, train station bulletins, news headlines, weather information, and connecting traffic data at the destination via smart phones and mobile devices. Vedia services will be produced on board the train and so will be unaffected by poor reception, particularly in the border zone.

The pilot solution is based on open data exchange in which cooperation is being built between the authorities and enterprises in both countries. This will allow traffic and road condition information to be made available to consumers, for example, via Finland’s Rajaliikenne.fi road informatio0n service and Vedia applications. Other additions to the service will include an online translation service and public transport information that will introduce connecting traffic as part of the application. In addition Vedia’s mobile SMS payment system can be used to pay for single rail tickets within Helsinki.

A service consortium, For Vedia, has been established to implement the services, including about a dozen companies both in Finland and Russia. The implementing consortium will be managed by Vediafi.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • USDOT video shows benefits of connected vehicles
    December 23, 2014
    The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) has also developed an animated video to illustrate the concept of connected vehicles and help the public understand its potential benefits. Connected vehicle technology enables cars to wirelessly communicate with each other, roadside infrastructure, and even personal mobile devices, sharing valuable information that could save lives, reduce congestion, and lessen the impact of transportation on our environment.
  • Nedap ANPR aids Baltic border crossing
    September 3, 2015
    Dutch access control specialist Nedap has supplied its ANPR Access licence plate recognition system for use at Lithuania’s border with Belarus and Russia, where kilometre-long queues of vehicles were commonplace, with waits of up to six days at peak times. The system is integrated with the new queue management service (EVIS), developed by GoSwift, which enables motorists to pre-book their border crossing by entering their details and vehicle registration online, with the option to pre-book a slot or join
  • Upgrading Koblenz's traffic information system
    March 1, 2013
    David Crawford reviews an award-winning scheme that delivered a 30% increase in website usage – below budget The German Federal Agricul­tural Show (Bundesgarten­schau, BUGA) runs between mid-April and mid-October every other year in a differ­ent city. The most recent, 2011, edition took place in Koblenz, a medium-sized community with a population of just over 105,000 in the Rheinland-Pfalz region, and was expected to draw an additional 40,000 visitors a day to its central area. Traffic access from the moto
  • Minsait launches smart city platform in Helsinki and Antwerp
    November 22, 2018
    Spain-based technology firm Minsait is to launch its smart city solution in two European cities: Helsinki and Antwerp. Its Onesait Digital Platform for Cities was chosen in a competition, Select for Cities, which is part of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 innovation project. The open-data platform utilises the Internet of Things to integrate and manage data from multiple sources and devices using predictive models, helping city authorities make informed decisions about transit and generating useful info