The Finnish Railway Administration spends €6 million a year on R&D. In addition to domestic research, international cooperation projects, which promote the European rail market and the competitiveness of rail transport, also play a remarkable role.

R&D work is the basis for the technical and operational development of the rail system. Recently focuses in R&D work have included reducing the environmental imapacts of rail traffic such as vibration, increasing rail capasity with new types of switches among other things, and new traffic control and signal systems, for example LED signals.