VR Scraper - Finnish Train Fares & Schedules

How to scrape VR data

VR Scraper extracts train schedules, ticket prices, and journey details from VR — Finland's state-owned national railway operator. VR operates all passenger rail services in Finland, including InterCity, Pendolino (high-speed), commuter, and night trains across the country's 5,900 km rail network.

This Actor uses Playwright to navigate the VR booking interface, extract train results with pricing, and return structured data ready for analysis, price monitoring, or integration with your travel platform. It also includes a fallback to Finland's open Digitraffic API for timetable data when the website is unavailable. No login or cookies required.

Why use VR Scraper?

• Price monitoring — Track ticket prices across Finnish routes and dates to find the best deals or monitor fare trends over time.
• Timetable research — Compare routes, durations, and train types (InterCity, Pendolino, commuter) for any Finnish destination.
• Market intelligence — Collect structured pricing data for competitive analysis in the Nordic travel industry.
• Schedule tracking — Monitor timetables for popular routes like Helsinki-Tampere, Helsinki-Turku, or Helsinki-Oulu.
• API access — Get VR train data via Apify API, webhooks, or scheduled runs. Integrate with Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, or your own applications.

What data can you extract from VR?

Field	Description
trainNumber	Train identifier (e.g., IC 35, S 71)
trainType	Service type (InterCity, Pendolino, Commuter, Express)
departureStation	Departure station or city
arrivalStation	Arrival station or city
departureTime	Departure time (HH:mm)
arrivalTime	Arrival time (HH:mm)
duration	Total travel time (e.g., 1h 42min)
price	Ticket price in EUR
currency	Currency code (EUR)
travelClass	Seat class (Eco, Extra)
changes	Number of transfers (0 = direct)
url	Source URL
scrapedAt	Timestamp of extraction

How to use VR Scraper

1. Go to the VR Scraper input page.
2. Enter your origin city (e.g., Helsinki) and destination city (e.g., Tampere).
3. Optionally set a departure date in YYYY-MM-DD format. If left empty, defaults to 14 days from today.
4. Set the number of passengers (default: 1).
5. Configure max results to limit the number of train results returned.
6. Click Start and wait for the run to complete.
7. Download your data from the Dataset tab in JSON, CSV, Excel, or HTML format.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
origin	string	Helsinki	Departure city or station name
destination	string	Tampere	Arrival city or station name
departureDate	string	14 days from today	Travel date (YYYY-MM-DD)
passengers	integer	1	Number of adult passengers (1-9)
maxResults	integer	50	Maximum results to return
proxyConfiguration	object	Residential FI	Proxy settings (residential recommended)

Example input

{
    "origin": "Helsinki",
    "destination": "Oulu",
    "departureDate": "2026-07-15",
    "passengers": 1,
    "maxResults": 30
}

Output example

{
    "trainNumber": "IC 35",
    "trainType": "InterCity",
    "departureStation": "Helsinki",
    "arrivalStation": "Tampere",
    "departureTime": "06:18",
    "arrivalTime": "08:00",
    "duration": "1h 42min",
    "price": 12.90,
    "currency": "EUR",
    "travelClass": "Eco",
    "changes": 0,
    "url": "https://www.vr.fi/en/train-tickets",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-06-09T10:30:00.000Z"
}

How much does it cost to scrape VR?

A typical run searching one route returns 10-40 train results and costs approximately $0.10-0.25 in Apify platform credits, depending on proxy usage and page load speed. The Actor uses Playwright (browser-based) which consumes more compute than HTTP-only scrapers, but this is necessary because VR.fi is a Next.js single-page application.

To keep costs down:

• Set maxResults to only what you need.
• Use a specific date rather than leaving it to default.
• Schedule runs during off-peak hours for faster loading.

Supported routes

VR operates all passenger rail services in Finland. Popular routes include:

• Helsinki - Tampere — Finland's busiest route, ~1h 40min by InterCity or Pendolino.
• Helsinki - Turku — Coastal route, ~2h by InterCity.
• Helsinki - Oulu — Long-distance northern route, ~6h by InterCity.
• Helsinki - Jyvaskyla — Central Finland, ~3h.
• Helsinki - Kuopio — Eastern Finland, ~4h.
• Helsinki - Rovaniemi — Arctic route to Lapland, ~8-12h (including night trains).
• Helsinki - Lahti — Fast commuter route, ~1h.
• Tampere - Oulu — Northern corridor, ~4h.
• Tampere - Turku — Cross-country route, ~2h.

The Actor supports all Finnish station names. You can use either Finnish names (e.g., "Jyvaskyla") or station codes (e.g., "JY"). The Digitraffic fallback covers all 200+ passenger stations on the Finnish rail network.

Train types in Finland

Code	Type	Description
S	Pendolino	High-speed tilting train, fastest service
IC	InterCity	Long-distance express with restaurant car
P	Express	Regional express trains
HL	Commuter	Helsinki metropolitan commuter trains
HDM	Diesel	Diesel multiple unit for non-electrified lines

Tips for best results

• Use residential proxies — VR.fi is a modern Next.js application. Residential proxies with FI country code provide the best success rate.
• Set realistic dates — VR typically opens ticket sales 60 days in advance. Past dates or dates too far out will return no results.
• Finnish city names work best — While the Actor handles English input, Finnish names improve autocomplete matching on the website.
• The Digitraffic fallback is reliable — Even if the VR website blocks scraping, the open Digitraffic API provides accurate timetable data (without pricing).

Integrations

Connect VR Scraper to your workflow with:

• Apify API — Call programmatically from any language.
• Webhooks — Get notified when a run completes.
• Scheduled runs — Monitor prices daily or weekly.
• Zapier / Make — No-code integration with 5000+ apps.
• Google Sheets — Export results directly to a spreadsheet.

FAQ

Is it legal to scrape VR?

This Actor extracts publicly available train schedule and pricing information that any visitor can see on vr.fi. No login, authentication, or account is required. The Digitraffic fallback uses Finland's official open data API. Always ensure your use case complies with applicable laws and VR's terms of service.

Why did my run return zero results?

VR.fi may block automated requests. Make sure you are using residential proxies with FI country code. Also verify that your origin and destination city names are valid Finnish stations and your departure date is within VR's booking window (up to 60 days ahead).

Can I get pricing data?

The Actor attempts to extract pricing from the VR website. If the website blocks access, it falls back to the Digitraffic API which provides accurate timetable data but does not include pricing. In that case, the price field will be null.

Can I scrape multiple routes in one run?

Currently the Actor searches one route per run. To scrape multiple routes, trigger separate runs with different origin/destination combinations using the Apify API or scheduler.

How often is pricing data updated?

VR uses dynamic pricing — fares change based on demand and how far in advance you book. For accurate price tracking, schedule runs at consistent times (e.g., daily at 8:00 AM EET).

Support and feedback

If you encounter issues or have feature requests, please open an issue in the Issues tab. For custom scraping solutions, reach out via the Actor's page on the Apify Store.