Finland’s two biggest cities, Helsinki and Espoo, have decided to build a light rail called Jokeri. Espoo is located in the proximity of the Finnish capital being considered a central part of the transport network in the Helsinki Metropolitan Area.
Last year, Helsinki City Council and Espoo City Council approved the light rail project also called Raide-Jokeri. The railway will provide connection on the east-west transport axis, from the east of the capital to Espoo. This is one of the most important transregional transport projects that will significantly optimise transport between the two cities. The railway will be built from Itäkeskus (Helsinki) to Keilaniemi (Espoo), through Pitäjänmäki (Helsinki) and Leppävaara (Espoo district). Currently, the transport services are ensured by a bus line, being the most crowded regional transport line, used by over 30,000 passengers every day. The railway to be built will have 33 stations and 25 km of which 16 km in Helsinki and 9 km in Espoo. The double railway will mostly have dedicated spaces, while on the sections without this possibility, the project objective is to prioritise tram traffic compared to road and to control all intersections to priorities public transport.
There are over 82,000 people living in the areas crossed by the light rail and the population is expected to reach 112,000 in the next two decades. As a result, the transport demand is also expected to increase.
In order to implement the project, the capital’s transport company, HKL, and the technical manager of Espoo City have selected a consortium of YIT and VR Track to carry out construction works. The project budget is EUR 275 million. Construction costs are estimated between EUR 205 and 225 million. As part of the contract, the contracting authorities can also introduce other options, such as the construction of a depot. Under the plan, two depots could be built, a main one, instead of the existing one, for buses, and a new one, in Laajalahti.
The total cost of the project is estimated at EUR 460 million of which the European Investment Bank could grant EUR 200 million. Of the total cost of the project, the Finnish Government will grant EUR 84 million, representing 30% of costs, Helsinki City will provide a EUR 124 million financing, while Espoo City will allocate EUR 66.6 million. Additional costs of Helsinki could be determined by rolling stock procurement which could have a cost of EUR 95 million, but also the construction of depots that would require financial grants of EUR 49.5 million.
The project implementation will be executed using the “alliance” mode, according to which the various parties involved in the project, such as customers, designers, contractors etc. are integrated into a joint organisation. Apart from the integration of the parties, the establishment of the “alliance” organisation model includes also the establishment of a joint objective and of a joint commercial model, but also the sharing of risks and benefits. The parties involved in this project are the two cities, the designers selected this year (Ramboll, Sito and VR Track) and the winner of the civil engineering execution works.
“We now have an excellent team for the Jokeri Light Rail project. We are looking forward to moving on to the next stage of the project,” Juha Saarikoski, Project Manager for the Jokeri Light Rail said.
This year, HLK presented the design concept for the vehicles that would operate on Raide-Jokeri railway. At the end of 2016, Škoda Transportation subsidiary, Transtech, announced it would deliver 49 new vehicles for Helsinki, HKL exerting an option for 20 low-floor light rail vehicles and a letter of intent for the procurement of 29 trams for the new railway. The total cost of both contracts amounts to EUR 150 million.
Over the next period, the contractor, the designer and the contracting authorities will detail the construction project and will then publish the costs and the deadline for the finalisation of the new railway.
The establishment of these elements will take one year. As of 2019, the project will advance to the implementation and construction phase.
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