A train crashed into a hotel in the main railway station in Helsinki, Finland on January 4, 2010. No major casualties were reported. The train was being transferred as empty when due to a braking problem it crashed into a hotel located in the railway station.

Four runaway carriages smashed through a buffer stop and slammed into the Holiday Inn hotel at the central railway station in Helsinki Monday morning, rescuers said.

Finnish Railways (VR) said three staff had been on board the carriages, with one sustaining light arm injuries.

No one else was hurt in the accident.

Rescuers at the scene praised a security guard for alerting passengers on the platform before the impact.

But one of the hotel's conference rooms was completely destroyed, with rescuers saying that deaths could not have been averted if there had been a meeting at the time of the accident.

The affected wing of the Holiday Inn was evacuated.

VR added it was not immediately clear why the carriages had become uncoupled from a train during reversing into the station.

The accident brought rail services to a juddering halt in the middle of the morning peak hour.
VR told passengers to expect delays throughout the day and into Tuesday morning.

STT
Lehtikuva - Antti Aimo-Koivisto