News

Juha Hakulinen (MSc Energy Technology) took on the role of project engineer for design management in the West Metro project. In his work as a project engineer, Hakulinen will assist in the design management of the Espoonlahti, Kivenlahti and Kaitaa stations and the related project coordination. In addition, he will assist in the monitoring of the sites’ planning costs and timetables for design requirements.

Hakulinen’s previous experience includes industrial investment projects for Neste Jacobs and Sweco Industry. He also has experience in rebuilding and expansion projects.

“The metro project appealed to me because it is a new area for me and offers valuable experience. You might say that it is a unique opportunity to participate in a project like this. It is interesting and responsible work when your job is to build a metro that transports so many people and needs to be reliable,” says Hakulinen.

“Building a metro naturally involves environmental values and energy efficiency. The electric motors of the trains, the stations’ ventilation and the escalators’ motors are some examples of areas that need energy to operate. There are air flows and heat transfer between different materials in the metro tunnels – energy is present at every stage,” Hakulinen adds.

As a project engineer on the Design Team, Hakulinen’s days are spent mostly at Länsimetro’s big room.

“People have been really friendly since day one. Soon I will get to visit the worksite,” says Hakulinen.

Construction of a glass wall at the entrance to the Matinkylä metro station, on the bus terminal level, will begin on Monday, 11 March 2019. The glass wall will be built between the K-Market and R-kioski, in front of the entrance to the metro. The addition of the wall is intended to enhance patrons’ enjoyment of the shopping centre.

The work will begin with the installation of safety barriers around the construction zone. Construction of the wall will take place in two phases: in phase one, a wall will be built on the K-Market side, and in phase two, on the R-Kioski side.

One side will take three and a half weeks to build. When phase one is completed, the safety barriers will be moved to the other side, and phase two will begin. The work will last a total of roughly nine weeks, with the project being completed in May.

The work will be carried out during the day, starting at 7.00 a.m. The project involves building three sliding doors and two swing doors. The sliding doors will function with motion sensors.

When the second part of the wall is being built on the R-kioski side, HSL’s ticket machines will be temporarily relocated outside of the construction zone. Once the work is completed, the ticket machines will be returned to their original locations. The Travel Card readers will remain in the same place, at the top of the escalators, and the platform area will not change.

The arrangements will not affect bus traffic at the terminal. The route from the bus arrivals terminal to the metro will remain the same, and passengers who are switching transportation methods will not have to bypass the worksite area.

Materials for the project will not be transported to the worksite during rush-hour periods. The work will be carried out by Hermanns Oy, Are Oy and Rakennuspalvelu Heino.

Further information

Länsimetro’s feedback line (Mon–Fri, 9 am to 3 pm): +358 (0)50 377 3700
Jyrki Karihtala, Hermanns Oy, +358 (0)400 554 988

Aleksi Yletyinen (Bachelor of Engineering) has begun work as a project engineer for Kivenlahti station. He will be responsible for quality management, cost control and documentation in the Kivenlahti station contract.

“I’ll work both at the site and in the office; I have a workstation in both places. I already had the opportunity to visit the Kivenlahti site and the contractor Skanska’s organisation,” says Yletyinen.

Yletyinen holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering. He completed his studies in construction engineering at Metropolia University of Applied Sciences in 2018. Before the West Metro project, he worked for Destia in the REDI shopping centre project. During his studies, he worked as a trainee in the Helsinki Central Library Oodi project.

“I’m interested in major projects, they are versatile and you get to see so many aspects of construction. I’m also familiar with the project management contracting model thanks to my previous projects,” Yletyinen says.

During the first two weeks, he will be introduced to the project’s construction, finances, risk management and quality aspects.

“The West Metro project offers me new challenges. I’m particularly interested in the interface between infrastructure and house construction in the construction of the metro,” Yletyinen says.

YLE News recently reported on puddles at the Koivusaari and Lauttasaari metro stations. Water dripping from bedrock is a natural phenomenon.

“West Metro was built into excavated Finnish bedrock, which always contains water. The bedrock is shaped by soil movements and thermal expansion. Water seepage is common in all excavated bedrock, it is a typical phenomenon in the hard Scandinavian bedrock that West Metro was built into,” explains Jari Heikkilä, a geotechnical expert working on the West Metro project.

Excavated areas are reinforced by pumping cement slurry into the rock in a process called grouting. In addition, storm drains will be built into the tunnel at five-metre intervals to control water flows. The drains will collect any residual water that drips from the bedrock.

Storm drains can be found in all stations and metro tunnels, from ceiling to floor. The water is guided from the drains to pumping stations, and from there to the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority’s network.

If necessary, Helsinki City Transport (HKL), which is in charge of service and maintenance for the stations, will install evaporation pans in the station’s roof, allowing the water to evaporate.

Water seepage volumes are measured by calculating the volume of water in litres over a distance of 100 metres for a period of one minute. Normal water seepage ranges from 5 to 10 litres over a distance of 100 metres. Additional reinforcing of the rock is also possible afterwards, if necessary.

The second entrance to the Tapiola metro station, located on the south side, will be opened to the public on 4 March 2019. At the same time, the new bus terminal for connecting traffic will be inaugurated, and the Merituulentie road will be opened for traffic. With these changes, Tapiola will become more accessible to people.

“For those us who are involved in the construction work, the introduction of the Tapiola metro station’s second entrance meant expanding the metro’s systems to cover the new entrance. These systems include the safety automation, automatic smoke ventilation and over-pressurising systems, fire alarms, sprinklers, elevators, escalators and the announcement system,” says the West Metro project’s Project Manager Perttu Tavia.

Joint test runs ensure interaction between the metro’s safety systems

Taking an entrance into use calls for careful testing of each system: first every metro system was tested individually, and in the final stage all the systems were put through joint test runs to ensure their flawless interaction.

“When compared to the commissioning of the metro in 2017, the biggest difference was that now we had to test the safety automation at night time to avoid causing disturbances in the metro traffic. The schedule was tight, since the nightly break in metro traffic only lasts about five hours. In the mornings, we also had to leave enough time for restoring the systems in the operational section following the tests. This meant that we had some 2.5 hours of effective testing time per night,” Tavia explains.

The head of the joint test runs was the West Metro project’s Janne Ilkanheimo.

“I organised the joint test runs. I invited the necessary partners from among the contractors, engineers and Länsimetro, established the schedule and made sure that we are ready for testing, because certain construction and testing phases had to be completed for us to be able to proceed to the joint test runs. I was also in charge of the actual tests, which covered announcements, elevators, escalators, smoke ventilation, hatches and doors, through both sensory methods and monitoring from the control room. All in all, it took three weeks of night shifts,” Ilkanheimo says.

“Our site supervisors and experts are true professionals, and they have really gone the extra mile here,” says Tavia.

Länsi-Uusimaa Rescue Department carried out fire inspections for the entrance before it was commissioned.

“The result was good. We paid attention to exit safety, fire alarms and smoke ventilation, lighting, announcements, and the functioning of elevators and escalators in the event of a fire. The inspections are familiar to us from when the phase one of the West Metro was taken into use. We also perform fire inspections for all of the metro stations during the year,” says Fire Chief Heikki Kervinen.

A worksite within a worksite – logistical and interface challenges

The fact that the route to the new entrance runs through the bus terminal caused a special circumstance during the construction work. The entrance worksite was located within another worksite.

“There were a number of interfaces and a lot of coordination to do. Logistics was also a challenge, since we could not use cranes, instead, all the construction supplies had to be carried in manually. Coupling the systems with each other also required expertise,” Tavia says.

The systems are largely related to safety.

“During the tests, I was personally impressed by the safety of our metro. Every possible scenario is accounted for,” says Tavia.

Although the entrance construction site was physically small, its effects were more extensive.

“We had to, for example, install long stretches of cabling in the operational metro section,” Tavia says.

The entrance was completed in collaboration. SRV took care of the building technology work as part of the Tapiola development project, and with HKL, who operates the existing metro, we carefully planned exceptional arrangements. The progress of the tests was closely monitored at HKL’s (Helsinki City Transport) Herttoniemi control room.

“As a result of the testing, the new entrance now functions as it should. Reconciling everything was quite an effort, but all’s well that ends well. Thanks to careful preparations for the joint test runs, the individual tests ran smoothly,” says Ilkanheimo.

“I feel privileged to have been involved in such a project. The worksite itself was small, but the impacts span the entire metro,” Tavia concludes.

The Board of Directors convened on 14 February 2019. The Board of Directors received a status report and risk management report on the construction work on the second phase, the Matinkylä–Kivenlahti section. The project is progressing on schedule and on budget.

The Board of Directors approved the procurement decision on the subcontracts. Information on the subcontracts will be provided once they are signed.
A status report on the servicing and maintenance on the first phase, Ruoholahti–Matinkylä, was discussed at the meeting. HKL not only operates the metro traffic but also reports to Länsimetro Oy on the use of the metro line and the stations and the related servicing and maintenance tasks as agreed.

The Board of Directors was informed of the owner organisation’s performance targets for 2019. The owner organisation is composed of those Länsimetro Oy employees who are responsible for taking care of Länsimetro’s stations, rails, and rail infrastructure for their entire lifecycle.

The Board of Directors received a media review concerning the tasks linked to ownership and construction. The next Board meeting will be on 15 March 2019.

Further information:
Ville Saksi, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)40 823 2086
Olli Isotalo, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Länsimetro Oy, tel. +358 (0)50 593 3359
Media contact person: Satu Linkola, Communications Director, tel. +358 (0)46 877 3392

In the West Metro rail line construction project, the construction of the emergency exit and the smoke extraction shaft will start at the Opettajantie shaft in Espoonlahti. At the installation stage of the prefabricated elements, the shaft is installed with prefabricated stairs, stair slabs, columns and wall elements over a total height of eight floors.

The installation work will begin in the week starting on 25 February 2019 and continue until the second week of June (the week starting on 3 June 2019). Prefabricated elements will be delivered to the site at a rate of two loads per week at 7 am.

In addition, concrete mixer trucks will deliver fresh concrete for the casting once or twice a week. Cranes will mainly be used outside the period between 7 am and 3 pm, and passenger cars and vans will otherwise be used for site traffic.

Once the installation work has been completed, construction will continue with work on the aboveground structures of the shaft. Work at the shaft will be carried out between 7 am and 6 pm.

Further information:

Mika Sandelin, Site Manager, GRK Infra Oy: Tel. + 358 (0)50 522 9411, mika.sandelin(at) grk.fi

Länsimetro’s feedback line (Mon–Fri, 9 am to 3 pm): +358 (0)50 377 3700

Construction engineer Mika Malkki took on his position as Finnoo station’s Construction Manager on 11 February 2019.

Construction Manager Malkki’s key goal is to ensure that Finnoo station is built in line with cost, time and quality targets.

“Work began in the first week with a brisk introduction to the overall project and I also got to visit the worksite during the first few days,” Malkki says.

In his previous job at the City of Helsinki Urban Environment Division Malkki became familiar with the construction phase of the Lauttasaari station. Now, he himself is responsible for the construction of a new metro station.

“When the opportunity to become involved in the project came up, my interest was immediately aroused. This is a completely unique project and a new challenge for me personally,” Malkki says.

Malkki’s experience in the municipal sector goes back a long way: he has worked extensively in construction and supervisory jobs for the Helsinki, Varkaus and Vihti municipalities. Some of the most recent projects headed by Malkki include the Myllypuro campus for the Helsinki Metropolia University of Applied Sciences, Alppila upper secondary school and the construction of an extension to the Kalasatama school.

“Building the station is very similar to the projects I’ve been involved with previously. There are, of course, many more technical systems in a metro, but I’m excited to learn,” says Malkki.

“Working in the big room has impressed me with its efficiency right from the start. Especially the war room where we monitor the project’s progress and costs is clearly a unique operating model,” Malkki concludes.