News

The Länsimetro rail line is being ventilated through selected smoke extraction shafts. Ventilation will continue until further notice in order to remove moisture from the tunnels.

The shafts selected for ventilation are the Tiistilä shaft, the Matinsolmu shaft, the Urheilupuisto station’s western shaft, the Otaranta shaft, the Karhusaari shaft, the Myllykallio shaft, and the Salmisaari shaft.

Low, humming noises may be heard coming from the shafts during the ventilation. These shafts were selected because they are not located close to residential areas, so the ventilation noises should not cause any disruption to local residents.

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

The Opettajantie shaft at the Länsimetro work site in Espoonlahti has now been bored through to the ground surface. This means that noise from work carried out in the tunnel below will now be more audible at ground level.

“The noise will carry in a different way now that the shaft is open, and explosion gas may also be visible,” says Irina Juppi, who supervises the Espoonlahti work site.

Noise coming from the tunnel has been reduced using heavy rubber mats placed over the shaft. If you do however hear new and different noises, or see explosion gas created by explosive work, there is no need to worry. Normal metro excavation work is being carried out in the tunnel: excavation and drainage. Work on an excavation beam is currently under way at the entrance to Espoonlahdenkatu.

No ground-level work relating to the shaft itself is yet under way at the Opettajantie shaft. Channel excavation at the shaft will begin from week 31. Work to reinforce the shaft will begin in mid-August and is estimated to continue for one and a half months. Excavation work on the base will also be carried out in the lower part of the shaft.

Further information about shafts, shaft buildings and their purpose

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

Various work phases related to the excavation of the Espoonlahdentori entrance will begin at Länsimetro’s Espoonlahti site in August.

Work associated with the collar structure of the shaft is already ongoing but does not cause any disturbance to the environment. Excavation drilling for the shaft will begin around week 33 (the week beginning on 14 August), and the actual excavation will begin at the turn of September/October. During the excavation phase, the drilling, blasting and loading of excavated rock will cause noise to the environment.

The excavation and reinforcement of the entrance will take approximately two months. Work at the site is done in accordance with the noise permit.

For further information, please contact:

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

Hotline for the site (24/7): +358 (0)40 637 5377

You can follow the progress of the excavations at the Länsimetro monitoring service

The isolation drilling phase will begin at the Iivisniemenkallio entrance shaft of Länsimetro’s Kaitaa site on Monday, 7 August.

The isolation drilling phase will take approximately one month. The work will cause noise disturbance to the environment, but the noisiest work will be carried out only in the daytime between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. The isolation drilling phase will be followed by an excavation phase, which will also take about a month.

Excavation of the Kaitaantie entrance will begin later, in about 1 to 1.5 months, and we will provide separate information on it.  Underground lifting-method excavation is currently ongoing under the shaft.

Further information:

Länsimetro feedback phone number (Mon–Fri 9.00–15.00): +358 (0)50 377 3700
Hotline for the Kaitaa site (24/7): +358 (0)40 183 0090

You can follow the progress of the excavations at the Länsimetro monitoring service.

Excavations will begin at the Suomenlahdentie shaft of Länsimetro’s Finnoo site on 16 August, when the close season on birds (nesting season) ends.

The work at the Suomenlahdentie shaft will start with smaller-scale grading excavation, which will take from one to three working days. Excavation drillings will begin in September, and the open excavation phase will last from the end of September to the beginning of October. In October and November, concrete structures will be made, and the actual excavation of the shaft down to the tunnel is expected to be carried out at the end November and the beginning of December.

Länsimetro will also excavate two ventilation shafts from the tunnel to the ground level for the use of the ​Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority HSY. The shafts are located at Finnoonsilta 9. The excavation drillings for these shafts have already been completed, and excavation blasting will be carried out during August.

Overground excavation at all shaft sites will be carried out from Monday to Friday, between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

What are the shafts? You can find more information on shafts here.

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

Hotline for the Finnoo site (24/7): +358 (0)50 421 3344

The organisation of the second phase of the West Metro has been strengthened with new employees in July and August. Sofia Amberla started as the architect and leading specialist of the Matinkylä–Kivenlahti section on 7 August. She joined the organisation from the Building Control of the City of Helsinki, where she worked at the Cityscape Unit. Amberla has also experience from the City of Espoo, where she participated in the planning and designing of large construction projects, such as Musiikkitalo – the Helsinki Music Centre.

“I have participated both in planning and designing and in supervising planning and designing, and I have followed construction projects from various perspectives, including the perspective of the authorities. The West Metro is an interesting and significant project, which will serve a very large number of people,” Amberla says.

Jari Porkka has worked with safety automation in the project from 1 August. He has previous experience of building automation from Fidelix Oy. The safety systems in the West Metro include fire safety systems, emergency lights, voice evacuation and the access control of the metro.

Samuli Silvast started as a project engineer in the strengthened organisation on 7 August and will be working with procurement. Silvast joined the project from Wise Group Finland Oy, specialised in building and infrastructure construction, where he worked in project management and supervision duties.

Jarkko Aittoniemi started as the design manager of Kaitaa and Kivenlahti  on 5 July. Aittoniemi brings expertise to the project from New Zealand, where he worked at Fletcher EQR in duties related to earthquake damage assessment and repair planning. Aittoniemi has previously also gathered international experience in England, where he designed underground facilities, such as metros and mines.

Länsimetro’s technical building services resources have also been strengthened, as Topi Dahlström and Tommi Saarinen joined the project as HPAC specialists on 7 August. Dahlström has previously worked in HPAC supervision duties at Posiva Oy, specialised in nuclear waste management, and Saarinen has supervisory experience for instance from Vahanen Oy and HKR Rakennuttaja and contracting experience for instance from EMC Talotekniikka Oy. Dahlström and Saarinen will serve, in particular, as HPAC supervisors at the Kaitaa station and the Sammalvuori depot, respectively.

Further information: Ville Saksi, CEO, Länsimetro Oy: +358 (0)40 823 2086, ville.saksi(at)lansimetro.fi

 

 

In the Board meeting held on 3 August 2017, the Board discussed the commissioning schedule for phase one of the Länsimetro, the Matinkylä-Kivenlahti section. Official inspections will continue during August. The building supervision commissioning inspections for Espoo and Helsinki will be held in mid-August, when HKL’s driver training will also begin. The track and stations will be handed over to HKL for commissioning preparations as August ends/September begins, upon which HKL will begin the daily maintenance of the track and stations. This includes the ramping up of overall system administration and the initiation of periodic system inspections. It is estimated that traffic will start running in September 2017, in accordance with previous estimations. HSL will decide on the launch of metro passenger traffic in cooperation with HKL and Länsimetro.

The current status of the Matinkylä-Kivenlahti excavations belonging to the second phase of the project was presented to the Board. The excavations are progressing as planned. Most members of the project organisation for the second phase were appointed.

The next meeting will be held on 24 August.

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

The drilling of a test hole for a ground heat well was started at Länsimetro’s Sammalvuori depot on Monday, July 10th. When finished, the depot gets part of its energy from environment friendly and cost effective ground heat.

“At the depot, ground heat is needed to heat the depot premises, which means that the ecological point of view has been taken into consideration”, says Minna Alantie, supervisor of the depot’s excavation work.

The purpose of drilling a test hole is to monitor how the drilling progresses and how the bedrock reacts to it. The test hole is subjected to trt measurements that give an indication of the soil’s thermal conductivity. Protecting tubes made of plastic will also be installed inside the rock to protect the ground heat tubes. The depth of the test hole is 300 meters.

The heating and cooling systems of the depot will be based primarily on the use of geoenergy. You can learn about the functioning principles of ground heat by using, for example, this illustrative picture.

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

The grading excavation of the Sammalvuori metro depot’s shaft building will start in week 27. The excavation will last two weeks. Blasting will be announced by a warning signal. Blasting hours are weekdays between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m.

We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the excavation.

Further information:
24-hour hotline for the Sammalvuori depot site: +358 (0)50 343 7233
Länsimetro feedback phone number (Mon–Fri 9.00–15.00): +358 (0)50 377 3700

At the sites of the Soukka metro station work is performed to build pipe tunnels. This requires periodic surface development at the Soukantori entrance, the Yläkartanonkuja technical shaft and the access tunnel sites (at the addresses 12 and 14, Yläkartanonkuja 1 and Soukanväylä 7). The work will start in the beginning of July (week 27) and last until the end of August (week 35).

The working hours are Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
We apologise for any inconvenience caused by the work.

Noise decision on excavation and sheeting in Soukka 

Further information:
Skanska Infra Oy, responsible Site Manager Lauri Harri, lauri.harri@skanska.fi, worksite telephone +358 50 560 9092
Länsimetro feedback phone number (Mon–Fri 9.00–15.00) +358 50 377 3700