Sweco was awarded a contract to provide design services for the first the city of Turku tram line in Finland including the design of 19 stops. EUR 6 million is the value of the contract.
“This is a comprehensive urban development project that will impact the development of the city, and its urban region, for decades to come. The establishment of a sustainable public transport system will contribute to Turku’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2029 and, in the future, becoming one of the world’s leading cities in the climate transition and in protecting nature,” Thomas Hietto, President of Sweco Finland, said.
The first phase of Turku tram line project covers the construction of 12 km and 19 stops from the harbour via the city centre to the Varissuo area. As a route for the Harbour–Varissuo tramway the approved route runs from Harbour via Humalistonkatu to Market Square and ends in Varissuo at Kraatarinkatu. The tram depot will be planned for Iso-Heikkilä at the end of Kiertotähdentie.
The development phase will start in April 2024 and based on a preliminary estimation, construction will take place between 2026 and 2031. Passenger traffic is expected to start in the early 2030s.
The value of the entire project will exceed EUR 344 million, including equipment and machinery worth EUR 42 million.
The tramway brings predictability and strengthens confidence in the long-term development of the Turku region. If the additional growth brought by the Harbour – Varissuo tramway in Turku would be 10,000–15,000 inhabitants, the tramway could be more profitable from the point of view of the municipal economy. The calculations will be more detailed in the next stages of the design.
According to the current estimate, the investment decision could be scheduled for the end of 2025.
The tramway project is part of the public transport quality corridor network of the general plan and thus a central part of the Turku and Turku region transport system.
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