Finnish Trams- Helsinki

Helsinki is the capital city of Finland, situated on a peninsula in the Gulf of Finland. The tramway (raitiotie in Finnish) began in 1891 and covers the city centre and the inner suburbs to the north. Starting with horse-drawn trams, the system was electrified in 1900 and by 1930 it had reached its maximum expansion and was privately operated. In 1945 a new municipal transport operator was formed, HKL (Helsingin Kaupungin Liikennelaitos), that still runs the trams in 2017. At the time of our filming in May 2017, the fleet was made up of some 40 high-floor trams manufactured by the Finnish company Valmet, (Nr I type) and 42 similar vehicles of the Valmet Nr II type. These trams have a low-floor section added. In the late 1990s, 40 low-floor Variotram vehicles arrived made by Adtranz, later to become Bombardier. The newer trams are Transtech Artics and are made by Finnish company Transtech, the successor to Valmet. This film is made in the course of a day, ending late at night in this land of the midnight sun.