Year: 2018

Phase two of the West Metro, that is, from Matinkylä to Kivenlahti, is moving on from excavation to construction. Competitive tendering will be completed this year to find contractors for each station. Contractors with project management responsibility have already been chosen for Soukka and Kivenlahti stations. Soukka station will be built by the YIT Rakennus Oy and Are Oy consortium, and Kivenlahti station by Skanska Infra Oy. The Matinkylä to Kivenlahti railway sections will be built by Graniittirakennus Kallio Oy. The procurement notices of the remaining three stations have been published, and contractors for all the stations will be chosen by October. The Sammalvuori depot has already reached the roof wetting stage. The work consists of not only building the stations, but 24 subcontracts will also be tendered out.

The West Metro consists of 52 different technical systems. Construction requires plenty of special expertise in different fields. The images on the website show the tunnel is built and in which order the metro station systems are completed.

How to build a metro station 

How to build a metro tunnel

The construction work will continue until 2022, after which the project will proceed to the commissioning phase. The goal is that the seven-kilometre rail line together with its five stations and depot will be handed over to the operator, HKL, during 2023. The lesson learnt from the first phase is to set aside enough time for the commissioning phase, joint use tests, other testing and official inspections. Construction will end once the stations and railway sections are handed over to the operator HKL to commence traffic services.

In March 2018, the City of Espoo reviewed its project plan from 2012 for the second phase. The revised cost estimate for the entire project is EUR 1.159 billion.

Channel excavation work will be performed in street areas in July–August as part of the West Metro station contract, causing changes in traffic on Yläkartanontie and Soukantie. Channels are being excavated for the Metro station entrances and technical shaft connections for public utility services – water, wastewater, power cables and telecommunication cables will run through the channels.

On Yläkartanontie, channels will be excavated from the technical shaft on Yläkartanonkuja to the northern side of Yläkartanontie, and from the Yläkartanontie entrance along the north side of Yläkartanontie towards the west. Vehicle traffic will not be completely interrupted at any point, but the channel excavations may slow down traffic. Only one lane will be open on a temporary basis. The pedestrian and cycle routes to the east of the Yläkartanontie entrance will be cut off during the excavation. An alternative route will be marked out with road signs.

On Soukantie, channels will be excavated along the street. The traffic route may also be narrowed at this point. The passage from the yard of Soukantie 14 to the parking site and covered waste facility will be narrowed during the work. However, a road connection will be maintained throughout the work.

Channel excavations will be performed from mid-July and last for a number of weeks. Work on the site will be done from 7am to 6pm on weekdays. The transport arrangements will also be in force at night and during the evenings.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the work.

Further information:

Länsimetro feedback phone number, Mon–Fri 9.00–15.00, tel. +358 50 377 3700

Kalliorakennus-Yhtiöt Oy’s hotline, tel.  +358 (0)50 3422 461

www.lansimetro.fi -> Worksite areas, Soukka

The metro depot under construction in Sammalvuori, Espoo, has proceeded in parts to roof wetting.

More than 60 per cent of the concrete and framework construction has been completed. The framework includes the walls, roofs, floors, foundations etc. Work on the building services has also begun,” says Minna Alantie, who is in charge of the Sammalvuori site supervising.

“The roof of the shaft construction at Sammalvuorenportti and the first waterproofing layer have been completed. Work on the water insulation in the service tunnel walls and roof is also proceeding well. The prefab installations in the staff entrance shaft are continuing, and the walls are being installed in the first floor. In the storage hall, we are working on the tunnels under the rails,” says Alantie.

All in all, the depot is about 20 per cent ready. Once the concrete structures are ready, we can start working on the wall, roof and floor surfaces. Building services work, that is, ventilation and electricity work, may begin once the framework is ready. Work on the sewage system has been ongoing all along.

“Rooms in the depot will gradually be taking form and be given names. It’s quite different from working right after excavation in large, open halls with no intermediate walls,” says Alantie.

The depot is different from other work sites in phase two of the West Metro in that the Sammalvuori consortium (Kalliorakennus-Yhtiöt Oy, EM Pekkinen Oy, Konevuori Oy and Aro-Systems Oy) is in charge of design, excavation, construction and building technical building services. The excavation and construction began in 2016 and is expected to be completed in 2020.

“Working with the consortium has been very flexible and cooperation between, for example, design and construction has been seamless,” says Alantie.

Two underground halls are being constructed at the Sammalvuori depot: one for the night-time storage of 20 trains, the other for maintenance facilities.

“We also have to bear in mind that the depot will be a workplace for people. It will be manned round the clock, and the premises must meet the staff’s needs: the depot has, for example, showers and dressing rooms, toilets, break rooms, offices and meeting rooms,” says Alantie.

New employees have started work on the West Metro project: Ismo Penttinen as a rail line electrical supervisor and Michael Träskelin as a location manager for the Kivenlahti station.

Penttinen is responsible for supervising the quality of electrical installation work of the seven-kilometre Matinkylä–Kivenlahti section of the rail line. Penttinen has a long career behind him with different electrical and automation projects. He has, for instance, worked as a designer and project manager for a power plan unit at Siemens for 15 years, as a project manager for the Loviisa Nuclear Power Plant project and as a unit manager at Empower, and in an electrical supervising position at Areva for the Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant project.

Furthermore, Penttinen has international experience from working for a nuclear power plan unit at Siemens AG in Karlsruhe, Germany, and at Ackermann u. Schmitt in Steinheim, Germany, for a period of years at each.

“West Metro is a completely new and different kind of project for me. On the other hand, I bring my own addition to the project thanks to my long experience,” Penttinen states.

“I heard that there is a good atmosphere, and, after first days, it already looks nice. I like the fact that we all work in the same big room, because, this way, communication works better, and team spirit is improved as well,” he adds.

Construction of the Matinkylä–Kivenlahti section is about to begin in June 2018.

“I joined the project at the exact right time,” Penttinen states delightedly. After the construction work begins, his days will mainly be spent at the worksite base to be built for the Hyljetie shaft.

Kivenlahti Location Manager has experience in motorway and track construction

Michael Träskelin will begin in the position of location manager. Alongside the real estate development manager, the location manager is in charge of construction and providing the contractor with operational guidance as well as making sure that, for instance, the objectives set for schedules, costs and quality are met.

Träskelin has previously worked with the Koskenkylä–Kotka and Hamina–Vaalimaa motorway projects at Sweco PM. Träskelin is very familiar with track infrastructure due to working with the Ilmala marshalling yard modernisation project. Previously, Träskelin has also worked at Lemminkäinen Infra Oy (current YIT Infra Oy) and was involved in construction of the Bothnia Line in Sweden.

“It is great to be back working with such a large-scale and long-term project. West Metro is a unique, large and significant project, and I highly doubt that I will never be involved in another project like this in my career,” Träskelin states.

Träskelin, too, is excited about working in the same big room.

“When an organisation is as wide as this, it is important that we all work under the same roof and that the entire concept functions as one. So far, so good,“ Träskelin states.

Construction work for the second stage of the West Metro line will begin in June 2018. Excavation of the rail line was completed at the beginning of the year. The work will be carried out by Graniittirakennus Kallio Oy.

The work will begin with the construction of a worksite base at the Hyljetie shaft (Hyljetie 6, 02260 Espoo). Rail tunnel structures are being simultaneously built for three sections: Matinkylä to Kaitaa, Kaitaa-Espoonlahti and Espoonlahti-Kivenlahti.

Construction of the track will begin from the bearing courses and concrete structures of the tunnel. Structures such as supporting wall elements and various cables will be built into the tunnel later, and electrical and HVAC works will be added. The end-stage of the construction work will include bringing blocks and ballast into the tunnel and fitting the rails into place. This will be done as part of the superstructure contract assigned to the main contractor of the line.

In addition to the seven-kilometre line of the Matinkylä-Kivenlahti section, the contract will include the construction of seven shaft buildings and 32 connecting tunnels with fire barriers.

During construction, there will be an increase in construction traffic around the mouths of the shafts and access tunnels. Otherwise, construction will cause no major changes in the surrounding environment.

During the construction phase, quiet work may be done around the clock, but noisy work may be done according to the noise permit issued by the Espoo Environment Agency:

• weekdays from Monday to Friday, 7am-6pm
• weekdays 6pm-10pm and 9am-6pm on non-bank holiday Saturdays (on up to 10 Saturdays), if the noise level of the work is a maximum of 35dB in nearby residences

The construction phase of the West Metro’s Matinkylä-Kivenlahti section is scheduled for the years 2019-2021. The building phase will include five stations, the track and the Sammalvuori depot, as well as the installation of various systems. Joint use tests and official inspections will be carried out during the years 2022-2023, and the works will be handed over by the building contractor. In 2023, the line and stations will be handed over to the operator, i.e. HKL, in order to begin running passenger traffic.

Worksite areas

Further details on tunnel construction

Further information:

Länsimetro feedback phone number (Mon–Fri 9.00–15.00), +358 (0)50 377 3700

Länsimetro is applying the Kuivaketju (dry chain) method to the construction of the Matinkylä-Kivenlahti phase. This is a moisture management operating model, adopted for the construction process in spring 2017, which reduces the risk of moisture damage throughout a building’s lifecycle.

“The system was originally developed for the construction of buildings, but we have tailored it to the needs of the West Metro. Construction of the Metro has involved special features compared to buildings; this is a long-term project, with the same work phases repeated several times. The construction of different stations and shafts is highly similar,” says Design Manager Hans Wilkman Ramboll.

After a building has been commissioned, the internal conditions tend to be warm and dry, while those on a railway are very humid.

“Special attention must be paid to the protection of sensitive service equipment and to ventilation and heat control. Stations have very high moisture management requirements, because they have even more technical equipment than the track. A station is a cold, segregated space where conditions vary as you move underground from the surface,” says Lead Consultant Leif Wirtanen of Ramboll.

Moisture is controlled by protecting machines and equipment with the help of protective coverings, for example, but the key issue is ensuring good ventilation. In an operational metro, moving trains change the air naturally, but ventilation has to be based on means such as fans when a metro is still under construction. Humidity is measured continuously.

The Länsimetro project is a pioneer in using the Kuivaketju10 method, since this is the first time that it has been used in a project combining building technology and infra on this scale.

“The City of Espoo’s building inspection authorities require that the West Metro ensure moisture management, and Kuivaketju10 is a good way of doing so. The overall process is still under development, but we already have many good experiences of using Kuivaketju10. Kuivaketju10 resembles the cold chain principle from the food sector; steps are taken to ensure moisture management at every stage from procurement to commissioning,” says Wirtanen.

More information on the Kuivaketju10 method

The Länsimetro Board convened on 23 May.

A status update on the second phase, Matinkylä–Kivenlahti, was presented to the Board. Excavations, planning, application for building permits and procurement are proceeding on schedule and in accordance with the adjusted cost estimate.

Status updates of May 2018 on the maintenance and servicing of the first phase of the West Metro, the Ruoholahti-Matinkylä section, were presented to the Board. HKL shall report to Länsimetro Oy on the use of the track and stations and the related service and maintenance tasks as agreed.

The Board was presented with a training programme for the Länsimetro project, the objective of which is to ensure that the special expertise of those involved in the second phase of the project is available throughout the construction. Expertise will also be developed during the long project. The training is systematic, continuous and will be developed as the project goes on. The trainers will mostly be our own experts who distribute information about their own special field in the construction of the West Metro. The training mainly concerns the project’s Piispanportti staff, that is, the big room staff.

The next meeting will be held on 28 June.

Further information:

Ville Saksi, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)40 823 2086

Olli Isotalo, Chairman of the Board of Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)50 593 3359

Media contacts: Satu Linkola,Communications Director, tel. +358 (0)46 877 3392