St. Petersburg–Finlyandsky Санкт-Петербург–Финляндский | |||||||||||||||||||
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 St.Petersburg–Finlyandsky main building | |||||||||||||||||||
| General information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Location | 5 Lenin Square,Saint Petersburg Russia | ||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 59°57′20″N30°21′24″E / 59.95556°N 30.35667°E /59.95556; 30.35667 | ||||||||||||||||||
| System |   | ||||||||||||||||||
| Owned by | Russian Railways | ||||||||||||||||||
| Operated by | October Railway | ||||||||||||||||||
| Line | Saint Petersburg Railway Division | ||||||||||||||||||
| Platforms | 5 (island platforms) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Tracks | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Connections |  Ploshchad Lenina | ||||||||||||||||||
| Construction | |||||||||||||||||||
| Parking | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||
| Architect | Pyotr Kupinsky[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other information | |||||||||||||||||||
| Station code | 03820 | ||||||||||||||||||
| IATA code | FVS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Fare zone | 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||||||||||
| Opened | 1870[2] | ||||||||||||||||||
| Rebuilt | 1960 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Electrified | 1952 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Original company | Finnish State Railways (nowVR Group) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||||||||||
| 12 million p.a. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||||||||
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St Petersburg–Finlyandsky (Russian:Станция Санкт-Петербург–Финля́ндский,romanized: Stantsiya Sankt-Peterburg–Finlyandskiy), also known asFinland Station (Russian:Финля́ндский вокзал,romanized: Finlyandskiy vokzal) (IATA:FVS), is arailway station inSt. Petersburg,Russia, handling transport to westerly destinations includingHelsinki andVyborg.
The station is most famous for having been the location whereVladimir Lenin returned to Petrograd from exile in Switzerland on 16 April 1917 (N.S.), ahead of theOctober Revolution.
The main entrance to themetro stationPloshchad Lenina is in the main building of Finland Station.
Finland Station was built byFinnish State Railways as the eastern terminus of theRiihimäki–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 escapingrevolutionary Russia, left for Finland. Later, ownership of the station was exchanged for Russian property in Finland, including theAlexander Theatre in Helsinki.
The station is famously known for the arrival ofVladimir Lenin by train fromSwitzerland 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 ofEdmund Wilson's bookTo the Finland Station (1940), a well-known study of revolutionary thought.
After the turmoil of theJuly 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 byEino Rahja andAlexander Shotman on 9 August 1917. Both times Lenin crossed the Russian–Finnish border on engine #293 driven by Finnish engineerHugo Jalava. Thesteam locomotive was donated by Finland to theSoviet Union in 1957 and is now installed as a permanent exhibit at one of the platforms on the station.
During thesiege 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 ofLake 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-calledRoad 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 inthe statue of Lenin, creating an 80–100 cm hole in the back of the statue.[3]
| Country | Destinations |
|---|---|
 Russia | Vyborg,Sestroretsk,Zelenogorsk,Primorsk,Priozersk |
 Finland1 | Helsinki |
1 —all trips to/from Finland are suspended, because ofsanctions against Russia due toinvasion of Ukraine.[4]
"West End Girls", a 1984 song byPet 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 byVladimir Lenin when he was smuggled by the Germans to Russia during theFirst World War, a pivotal event in theRussian Revolution.[5]Edmund Wilson's bookTo the Finland Station, which Tennant most likely had read, may have also influenced this song's line.
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Media related toFinlyandsky Rail Terminal at Wikimedia Commons
Main Railway stations inSt. Petersburg | ||
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