News

The tunnels of the second phase of the West Metro linked when a new connection was excavated between the Espoonlahti and Kivenlahti rail tunnels on 16 February 2018.

The second phase of the West Metro has now linked all the rail tunnels with each other. The excavation contracts began during the period 2015 and 2016, and the tunnels at each site were excavated at the same time. Towards the end, the tunnels were separated from each other by thin rock plugs, which were removed when the excavations progressed to the contract limits.

With the exception of the Espoonlahti–Kivenlahti section, all of the plugs between the rail tunnels were removed in 2017, including the depot connection.  The connection from Matinkylä, the last station of the West Metro’s first phase, to Finnoo, the first station of the second phase, was opened in November 2017.

An approximately three-metre layer of rock, equivalent to some 350 solid cubic metres, was removed in the last breakthrough. The breakthrough was implemented by blasting.

Five new metro stations are being constructed for the second phase west of Matinkylä: Finnoo, Kaitaa, Soukka, Espoonlahti and Kivenlahti. In addition, an underground metro depot will be constructed in Sammalvuori.

Kalliorakennus-Yhtiöt Oy, the excavation contractor at the Kivenlahti site, has been named the West Metro’s Safest worksite. The review period of the competition was from 1 July to 31 December 2017. The competition is organised semi-annually and its participants are all current West Metro worksites.

The prize is a gilded piece of rail track, engraved with the name of the winning contractor.

The award is granted on the basis of accident frequency monitoring and civil engineering worksite safety level (MVR) measurements. MVR measurements are carried out weekly on sites to measure different factors affecting safety, such as worksite cleanliness, condition of machinery and equipment, storage facilities, and protective equipment.

The worksite with the best ranking scores in accident frequency monitoring and MVR measurements is named the winner. MVR results are given a weight of 80% in the ranking, while accident frequency monitoring carries a weight of 20%.

“It feels good to receive this award for the second time already,” says Panu Oikkonen from Kalliorakennus-Yhtiöt Oy.

The excavation as well as the demolition preceding the excavation for the Soukka construction site of the Länsimetro for the Yläkartanontie entrance will start in March. Preparations were started in December for the construction work with traffic arrangements on Yläkartanontie.

Along with the exceptional traffic arrangements, a part of the parking slots will be removed from the Yläkartanonkuja parking area. Replacement slots have been arranged at Kartanonkulma.

A worksite fence will be built in the next phase and a worksite will be established.

The demolition of the so-called Puotitalo will start after mid-March. At about mid-May the construction of a sheet pile wall will start, which will cause noise pollution. At the end of May the actual excavation of the entrance itself will begin, lasting until the end of July.

Information will be given regarding every work phase separately as the work progresses and the schedules become more exact.

Further information:

Kalliorakennus-Yhtiöt Oy, Site Manager Meeri Kaartinen, tel. +358 (0)50 3411970

West Metro feedback phone number (Mon–Fri 9.00 AM–3.00 PM): +358 (0)50 377 3700

Joni Kukko (civil engineer, AMK) has started as the project engineer for the Kaitaa Station in the Länsimetro project.

The project is now in its acquisition phase, and Kukko will start his work by going through the contract and tender documents. After the construction work begins he will be seen more often at the worksite also.

Kukko said, “In addition to the worksite my work also includes supervision of billing and schedules.”

Kukko transferred to the Länsimetro project from Skanska, where he worked as a production engineer and in work direction activities for a total of four years. He was involved in, among other things, the building of the Lauttasaari Metro Station.

“My earlier work was very worksite oriented, so the project engineer job is a significant change for me. I will get more into work that corresponds to my education, and this is just the right place to do so,” said Kukko, who specialized in project management and production in his engineer education.

Kukko, who observed construction on a contractor side earlier, is waiting to observe construction from the perspective of the client.

“I have considered construction jobs earlier also, and I became interested when this opportunity came along. I expect above all else to develop and grow as an engineer. This is such a large project that everything possible will be seen in it,” said Kukko.

Claes Stigzelius (MSc. Eng.) has been appointed as Site Manager of the Länsimetro project from 1 January 2018. Stigzelius will serve as the Site Manager, based at the Finnoo station, of the Matinkylä-Kivenlahti section.

“As Site Manager, I will be in charge of construction alongside the Real Estate Development Manager. For example, I will engage in contract negotiations with contractors and be in close contact with them while the construction site is in place. When construction begins, I will spend more and more of my day on the construction site,” says Stigzelius.

Stigzelius is transferring to the West Metro project as a Project Management Consultant for other Sweco PM projects. Before Sweco PM, he was an entrepreneur for around 20 years, leading his own construction consultancy firm. During his career, he has been involved in the construction of buildings such as Biltema and Plantagen stores.

“The West Metro is a new kind of challenge for me, since it is such a large project. It will be great to learn how such a large organisation works,” says Stigzelius.

During his first month involved with the West Metro, Stigzelius has familiarised himself with the project by attending meetings and studying construction plans – as well as getting to know other West Metro employees.

“This seems like a good and relaxed work community, where you can be yourself,” says Stigzelius.

Over 500,000 documents and nearly a thousand users – if placed one after the other as sheets of A4 paper, the West Metro data portal files would reach from Helsinki to Rovaniemi.

In the megaproject, data management – or, the management of data management data, as Ulla Valtonen, Life Cycle and Risk Manager at West Metro puts it – is crucial.

“Data management can be exciting, easy, challenging or impossible, depending on how it is organised. Many paper archives or separate electronic systems remain in use,” she points out.

For the West Metro, Valtonen decided to solve the issue of data management differently. Together with project engineer Timo Mankki, she has developed a data portal for the project that combines all data management throughout the project’s life cycle. Viasys VCD Oy is responsible for the technical implementation of the portal.

“Our starting point was that data management must be simple and primarily serve maintenance needs. Data content must be kept up-to-date and reliable, and no information may be lost at any stage of the life cycle. The data covers all aspects of the metro: rail structures, stations, shafts, access tunnels and technical systems,” Valtonen explains.

A system unlike any other

Development of the data portal began in 2010, and the result was a system unlike anything in use elsewhere.

“As we began to develop the portal, there was no existing system that included all the data we required, from rock engineering to track engineering and the significant amount of equipment used in technical systems. Another starting point for the development work was that the system could later be adapted to other applications, such as a maintenance manual for an icebreaker,” says Väyrynen.

The data portal first saw use in production on 1 September 2017, when the Ruoholahti-Matinkylä section of the metro was completed. The portal will be complete once construction of the second phase of the metro to Kivenlahti is ready.

The data portal aids in daily use

The data portal combines all information related to the West Metro: construction plans and their inspection and approval, monitoring of the conformance of building products and materials and their service and user manuals, monitoring of the progress of contracts and work performance, and verifications of the monitoring of implementation and reception and their inspection documents.

Above all, the data portal is designed to assist in the daily upkeep of the metro.

“The idea is that it is not the implementation of the project that matters most, but rather its future operation. In comparison, it could be said that while the metro has taken around ten years to plan and construct, the lifespan of both the electronic maintenance manual and the metro itself is still ten times longer,” Valtonen says.

From the outset, the data is sorted to suit the needs of maintenance and servicing. It can later be retrieved in the portal with location data and searched based on, for instance, a station, pile, room, floor or even a single piece of equipment.

Maintenance data is also collected during use. As the infrastructure’s owner, Länsimetro Oy receives maintenance and service reports on the practical implementation of service tasks from the maintenance manual. The system therefore also helps to ensure passenger safety.

“The maintenance manual contains data on matters such as the properties and their technical systems, such as HVAC systems, as well as superstructures such as conductor rails, train tracks and safety equipment,” Valtonen explains.

Anywhere, anytime

In designing the data portal, user comfort has been taken into account: the portal can be used online with all devices from desktop computers to tablets and smart phones. The right data must be available in the maintenance site without delay, and the acknowledgement of maintenance procedures and addition of new tasks are possible on site.

“All procedures must leave an individual name and time stamp. The data must anticipate a situation where the records of performed tasks need to be reviewed,” Valtonen says.

The portal and maintenance manual are accessed through a user interface that is customised according to each work role. It connects many different partners to the same information.

“The data portal can be accessed by, for example, West Metro planners and contractors as well as local inspection authorities and rescue services. All are able to view their required information from anywhere with Internet access,” Valtonen says.

The contractor Kalliorakennus-Yhtiöt Oy will perform additional excavations in Kivenlahti as part of the excavation project for the station and rail tunnel of the West Metro. The excavations will begin in January 2018 and are estimated to continue until July 2018.

In the additional excavations, the rail tunnels will be extended some 70 to 80 metres west of the current contract area boundary to meet the needs of the traffic operator HKL. A connection tunnel will also be excavated between the rail tunnels.

Tunnel excavation work will be carried out on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. in accordance with the noise permit. The loading and transportation of excavated rock may also be carried out between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m. on Saturdays.

Further information:

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

Hotline for the site (24/7): +358 50 342 2461

In the second phase of the West Metro from Matinkylä to Kivenlahti, around 95% of excavations have been completed, and the work is close to the finish line. The moment when excavation contractors and drill jumbos depart from the worksites and tunnels. The tunnels are left to await the arrival of the rail and station constructors.

In what condition are the worksites left at the end of excavations?

“The final work stages in excavation involve the installation of reinforcement bolts and subsurface drains and shotcreting. All of these are related to the reinforcement of the tunnels, and are carried out throughout the tunnel’s excavation. Shotcreting or concrete spraying is performed for designated areas in the ceiling and walls,” explains Pentti Väyrynen, supervisor at the Kaitaa excavation project.

The lower part of the tunnel is not sprayed; the last step involves filling the floor with rock and levelling it. The rock surface allows concrete mixers and other construction vehicles to move in the tunnels during the later stages of construction.

“Finally, we inspect the tunnel floors and ensure that canals have been excavated at their base. The canals will later be used to place public utility services, such as water mains and power cables,” Väyrynen says.

After the levelling operation, a final inspection of the excavation worksite verifies that all tasks have been completed. The inspection ensures that, for example, the electric and pumping systems are in order for the eventual construction project.

“When you finally emerge from the tunnel after excavation, the main emotion is that you’re glad the work is over and the project can move on,” says Väyrynen.

From excavation to construction: everything is founded on concrete

After excavation, the tunnels and their electric and pumping systems are maintained until the building contractor is selected and its staff deployed on the worksite.

The building contract begins by establishing a worksite. The first issues to be addressed are matters such as site facilities. The first actual work stages include the construction of natural foundation beds and sewers, and the concrete pouring of foundation bases. Structures such as the walls, floors and ceiling are later installed over the base.

Väyrynen will continue at the Kaitaa site, supervising the construction of the station. He has plenty of experience of the matter, as he joined the West Metro project some three years ago to supervise the construction of the Lauttasaari and Koivusaari stations.

“I know the construction phase well and am excited about the new project,” Väyrynen says.

The Board was presented the situation on the final financial statement of the first phase of the West Metro, the Ruoholahti-Matinkylä section. The final financial statements are currently being prepared. Incomplete construction projects for the first phase still include the southern entrance in Tapiola and the western entrance in Matinkylä. The construction of both entrances is tied to the schedules of other ongoing construction projects in their respective areas. In Tapiola, the entrance is situated below the currently developed Ainoa 3, and in Matinkylä, it is built in connection with the upcoming hotel in the so-called Tynnyripuisto area.

Status updates on the maintenance and servicing of the first phase of the West Metro, the Ruoholahti-Matinkylä section, were presented to the Board. Länsimetro Oy handed over the stations and rail to HKL for the initiation of traffic on 3 October 2017. The rail, its technical systems and the eight stations remained in the ownership of Länsimetro Oy. HKL shall report to Länsimetro Oy on the use of the rail and stations and the related service and maintenance tasks as agreed.

The incentive scheme for the second phase of the West Metro, the Matinkylä-Kivenlahti section, was presented to the Board.

The Board received a status update on the risk management of the second phase.

The next meeting will be held on 28 February.

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

Janina Lempinen (B. Eng. in automation engineering) joined the West Metro project on 8 January 2018 as a maintenance manager.

Lempinen supervises repairs and maintenance of the rail and stations of the first phase of the West Metro from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä. The rail and stations were handed over to HKL on 3 October 2017 as part of their opening for traffic, but the eight stations and the rail line with its technical systems remained in the ownership of Länsimetro Oy.

Lempinen’s responsibilities include the monitoring of maintenance of the stations and technical systems and the development of these in cooperation with HKL.

Lempinen joined the West Metro project from HKL, where she worked as a technical depot manager. She also has experience of working as a building services engineering expert and technical manager with VR Group until 2015. She is therefore familiar with a variety of operating environments and properties related to rail traffic.

“The West Metro presented an exciting opportunity for both my career and personal development. The West Metro systems are more modern and technically advanced than those found in the older section of the metro line, and provide an opportunity to learn about challenging and complex overall systems”, Lempinen says.

In her first days in her new position, Lempinen is reviewing various contracts and visiting the metro stations in person.