Uusikylä railway station

The Uusikylä railway station (Finnish: Uudenkylän rautatieasema, Swedish: Uusikylä järnvägsstation) is located in the city of Lahti (formerly the municipality of Nastola), Finland, in the district of Uusikylä. It is located along the Lahti–Kouvola line, and its neighboring stations are Nastola in the west and Kausala in the east.

Uusikylä
VR station
Location	Kouvolantie 519, 15550 Uusikylä, Lahti Finland
Coordinates	60°55′40″N 026°00′56″E
Owned by	Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency
Operated by	VR Group
Line(s)	Lahti–Kouvola railway
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	3
Other information
Station code	Ukä
Classification	Operating point [1]
History
Opened	11 September 1870
Passengers
2016	10,000 [2]
Services
Preceding station VR Group Following station Nastola towards Lahti Lahti–Kouvola Kausala towards Kouvola Preceding station Helsinki commuter rail Following station Nastola towards Helsinki Z Kausala towards Kouvola
Location
Uusikylä Location within Päijät-Häme Uusikylä Uusikylä (Finland)

History

Uusikylä is one of the original stations of the intermediate stations of the Lahti–Kouvola section of the Riihimäki–Saint Petersburg railway. Its original Class III station building was built according to plans from Knut Nylander, and was completed in 1869. At the time of the railway's opening, Uusikylä became the only station situated in the parish of Nastola; the location was chosen for the village's important location in a crossroads between Lahti, Heinola, Anjala and Artjärvi.

During the Finnish Civil War, upon the landing of Detachment Brandenstein in Loviisa, it proceeded towards Uusikylä and took control of the station, destroying a section of the railway in the process and thus cutting off the Reds' connection to St. Petersburg. The lives of the Germans who fell during these battles are honored by a memorial at the station.[3]

Uusikylä became the target of Soviet artillery just three days before the end of the Winter War, on 10 March 1940. The station building was completely destroyed by the fire bombings, yet no lives were lost, in spite of the idle trains that were then present at the station holding approximately 1,000 people at the time. The station management office as well as that of the post service were then temporarily transferred into a nearby bakery until the completion of the new station building in the same year.

Passenger services at Uusikylä were ceased in 1971; however, they were restarted upon the electrification of the Lahti–Kouvola section in 1979. 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 of Nastola, it was again closed on 9 January 2005 with the opening of the Nastola halt.[4] The station's platforms were then dismantled on 10-11 May.[5]

Uusikylä, along with Villähde, were subsequently rebuilt and reopened in 2010, which made Nastola home to a total of three active railway stations.[6]

Services

Uusikylä 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 Z rush hour service on the route Helsinki–Lahti–Kouvola. Eastbound trains towards Kouvola stop at track 1 and westbound ones towards Lahti use track 3; track 2 lacks a platform and is only used by long-distance trains passing through the station.

External links

• Media related to Uusikylä railway station at Wikimedia Commons

Gallery

• 
  The second station building, constructed in 1940
• 
  A snowy Uusikylä in December 2010

References

1. Railway Network Statement 2021 (PDF). Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency. 18 June 2020. p. 93. ISBN 978-952-317-744-4. Retrieved 20 September 2020.
2. Kamppila, Pirjo (December 11, 2017). "Edellinen avaus Villähteellä, seuraavana jonossa Hennala". Etelä-Suomen Sanomat (in Finnish). p. A5.
3. https://www.nastola.fi/vapaa-aika/patsaat-ja-muistomerkit/sotiemme-muistokivet/
4. Iltanen, Jussi (2009). Radan varrella: Suomen rautatieliikennepaikat (in Finnish). ISBN 978-951-593-214-3.
5. "Tasoristeys-palsta". Resiina (in Finnish) (3/2005). Suomen rautatiehistoriallinen seura & Museorautatieyhdistys. ISSN 0356-0600. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
6. Veirto, Tuija (November 15, 2011). "Nastolassa junapysäkkejä melkein kuin Vantaalla" (in Finnish). Yle. Retrieved 14 September 2020.