HELSINKI’S light rail Line 15 opened on October 21 ahead of schedule, providing an alternative to the congested bus route 550, the busiest in Helsinki. The 25km line runs from Itäkeskus in Helsinki to and Keilaniemi in Espoo, with 16km in Helsinki and 9km in Espoo.
Known as Raide-Jokeri line during construction, which began in 2019, Line 15 has 34 stops located on average every 800m. The line serves Itäkeskus, Aalto University and Keilaniemi metro stations and Oulunkylä, Huopalahti and Leppävaara railway stations.
The project was implemented using an alliance model based on a contract between the two cities, the construction consortium, and the project design team, which comprises Ramboll Finland, Sito, and VR Track.
The eastern terminus is currently located at the junction of Raaseporintie and Marjaniementie streets, but in future the line will be extended by 100m to Itäkeskus metro station and bus terminal, following the renovation of the terminal. The western terminus is close to the northern entrance to Keilaniemi metro station, at the corner of Keilaranta and Keilaportti streets.
The line has a top speed of 70km/h and an average speed of 25km/h, higher than the city-centre tram network’s average speed of 14.5km/h, as Line 15 runs mostly on a dedicated right of way.
Services will initially operate every 12 minutes, with this increasing to every six minutes following the delivery of more LRVs. Helsinki transport operator HKL ordered 29 LRVs from Škoda subsidiary Transtech in 2016, exercising an option from a contract for up to 90 LRVs that was awarded in December 2010.
The Artic XL LRVs on Line 15 have a blue and green livery to distinguish them from the green and yellow of trams on the existing network. The bi-directional LRVs are 34.5m long, with seating capacity for 78 passengers and standing capacity for 136, around 20% more capacity than the LRVs on the city-centre network. The Artic XL LRVs are 100% low-floor, and are equipped with air- conditioning and passenger doors on both sides of the vehicle. The new fleet was manufactured at Otanmäki in the Kainuu region of Finland.
Line 15 will operate from 04.30 to 01.15 on weekdays, and between 05.30 and 01.15 at weekends. Bus route 550 will continue to operate between Itäkeskus and Keilaniemi until service frequency on the light rail line is increased.
The line will have an end-to-end journey time of one hour, the same as bus 550, but will be more reliable and will have more capacity than the buses.
The light rail line is expected to carry 80,000 passengers a day by 2025, compared with 40,000 passengers currently travelling on bus route 550 each day.
Up to six more light rail lines are planned in the Helsinki region by the mid-2030s, with the Kruunusillat line the next to be implemented. The city council of Vantaa also voted in favour of building a light rail line on May 22.
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