News

Destia has been awarded the tender for the contract for building work in the West Metro tunnels between Lauttasaari and Keilaniemi. The agreement was signed today; the contract is worth EUR 16.8 million. The contract covers technical construction work in a metro tunnel segment about 4 km long and the construction of five vertical shafts, including their surface buildings.

Destia will begin the construction work as the excavation projects in the area are completed. To date, 82% (22.8 km) of the West Metro tunnels has already been excavated.

“We already have tunnels running from Katajaharju in Lauttasaari to Mäntyviita in Tapiola. Only about 200 m of tunnel remains to be excavated on the Helsinki side; the tunnelling begun in Matinkylä in Espoo has reached the corner of Nelikkotie, and the tunnelling begun in Niittykumpu is now passing under the Niittykumpu shopping centre. Excavation is also still under way in Tapiola, at Urheilupuisto and in Tontunmäki,” says Matti Kokkinen, CEO of Länsimetro Oy.

Excavation work on the West Metro will continue up to the end of 2013, but technical construction work has already begun at Lauttasaari station and on the section of metro line between Ruoholahti and Lauttasaari. These contracts were awarded to Skanska Infra Oy. Contractors for the remaining stations and sections of metro line will be selected later this year.
Further information

Matti Kokkinen, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. 050 347 1558

Länsimetro Oy is a company jointly owned by the Cities of Espoo and Helsinki, tasked with building the West Metro underground line from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä. The company was established in 2007. The Länsimetro offices are situated in Tapiola, Espoo.

HKL and Spanish rolling stock manufacturer Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles S.A. (CAF) signed a contract on 6 February for the procurement of 20 new metro trains. The new equipment will be needed for the West Metro, and is intended to run the entire length of the metro system.

Delivery of the trains will be planned to allow operation of the West Metro to begin according to schedule. The first train will arrive in Helsinki for testing and trials at the end of January or beginning of February 2015. The 15 trains that will be needed to start the west metro service will all have arrived by the end of 2015. The remaining 5 units will arrive in spring 2016.

The procurement allows for the potential extension of the West Metro from Matinkylä to Kivenlahti. The contract also contains a further option, should the so-called ‘East Metro’ to Sipoo be realised sooner than expected.

Read the full press release on the HKL website. (in Finnish)

Bus routes in Tapiola Centre will change on 28 January 2013. The reason for this is the construction work related to the metro line and the development of Tapiola.

Merituulentie will be closed for public transport, and the bus terminal will be temporarily relocated to Tapionaukio.

For more information on new routes and timetables, see the website of Helsinki Region Transport at www.hsl.fi

Construction work on the West Metro underground tunnel shaft is about to start in Tapiola in the Mäntyviita area. The work commenced in December 2012 with the felling of trees on the construction site and fencing in of the site. Near the construction area, there is an adjacent area to be used for storage.

The actual construction of the shaft will commence in week 2 in 2013. The work stages to be carried out above the ground include excavation in earth, levelling of the ground surface and the drilling of the excavation holes.

Blasting work will be carried out in the tunnel, and the broken rock will be hauled away through the Tekniikantie work site base in Otaniemi. Earthwork and excavation work will continue until July 2013. Shaft structures and the shaft building above the ground will be constructed in 2013-2014.

In the underground tunnel there is a shaft, reaching up to the surface every 600 metres, for emergency exit, smoke extraction, pressure equalisation and ventilation. There is an emergency exit stairway with fire compartments halfway through the shaft. The number of vertical shafts on the route totals 15.

For more information, contact SRV Construction Ltd

Ville Järvinen, tel. +358 400 128 688, Alpo Asikainen, tel. +358 40 735 2888
Juha Pelkonen, tel. +358 40 500 9209

Länsimetro feedback phone number (Mon-Fri 9 a.m.-3 p.m.) +358 50 377 3700

Electrical systems and HVAC contracts for Otaniemi and Keilaniemi stations and sprinkler system contract for entire metro line signed

The Otaniemi station HVAC contract was awarded to Lemminkäinen Talotekniikka Oy; the contract is worth EUR 3.5 million. Lemminkäinen Talotekniikka Oy was also awarded the electrical systems contract for Otaniemi station, worth EUR 3.2 million.

The electrical systems and HVAC contracts for Keilaniemi station were likewise signed today. The HVAC contract (EUR 3.3 million) was awarded to YIT Kiinteistötekniikka Oy and the electrical systems contract (EUR 3.0 million) to ARE Oy.

The sprinkler systems contract, covering all stations on the metro line, was awarded to Firecon Group Oy. The contract is worth EUR 2.9 million.

The West Metro HVAC and electrical contracts are divided into station-specific contracts and underground tunnel contracts.

“More than 65 per cent, or 18,300 metres, of the metro tunnels have already been excavated. Excavation work will be completed at all worksites next year, and construction work on the stations and tunnels will begin in the meantime as excavations allow,” says Matti Kokkinen, CEO of Länsimetro Oy.

Further information

Matti Kokkinen, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. 050 347 1558
Länsimetro Oy is a company jointly owned by the Cities of Espoo and Helsinki, tasked with building the West Metro underground line from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä. The company was established in 2007. The Länsimetro offices are situated in Tapiola, Espoo.

Construction work on the Länsimetro underground tunnel shaft is about to start in Tapiola, at the corner of Kelohongantie and Puhurinpolku. The work will commence in week 28 with the felling of trees on the construction site and fencing in of the site.

The actual construction of the shaft will commence in week 30. The work stages to be carried out above the ground include excavation in earth, earthmoving and the drilling of the excavation holes. Blasting work will be carried out in the tunnel, and the broken rock will be hauled away through the Etelätuulentie work site base. Earthwork and excavation work will continue until spring 2013. Shaft structures and the shaft building above the ground will be constructed in 2013-2014.

In the underground tunnel there is a shaft, reaching up to the surface every 600 metres, for emergency exit, smoke extraction, pressure equalisation and ventilation. There is an emergency exit stairway with fire compartments halfway through the shaft. The number of vertical shafts on the route totals 15. The exits of the vertical shafts are in streets or public parks. The shape, structure and facade materials of the shaft buildings will be designed to be appropriate for their surroundings.

More information available at

Earthwork and excavation: Skanska Infra Oy/Tuomas Laamanen,
tel. 020 719 2852

Works by visual artist Seija Rissanen are on display at the Tapiola metro office from 25 September to 2 November.

Seija Rissanen has her studio on Karhusaari in Espoo. Every day she passes by the entrance to the West Metro service tunnel.

“I followed the excavation of that huge opening with great interest from the very first blasting. As the work progressed, I became increasingly fascinated with this hole in the ground that was growing deeper and deeper,” Seija Rissanen says.

Seija Rissanen began this series of acrylic paintings on Aleksis Kivi Day (10 October) and finished on Lucia Day (13 December) in 2011. Rissanen’s paintings are a series of impressions of morning at the tunnel entrance.

“The paintings are largely fiction, quickly executed depictions of what morning looks like around the tunnel entrance, since I could not go any further than that,” Rissanen explains.

“I was dazzled with the idea of capturing the greyness of autumn, the shades of grey in the water, snow and stone, and above all the play of light on these elements,” says Seija Rissanen of the genesis of the paintings displayed at the metro office.

From stone to light – visual artist Seija Rissanen
Exhibition at the Länsimetro office in Tapiola
Tapiontori 3 A
Open Mon–Thu 09.00 to 16.00 and Fri 09.00 to 15.00
25.9.–2.11.

The Länsimetro HVAC and electrical contracts are divided into station-specific contracts and the underground tunnel contract. The HVAC contract for the entire tunnel line from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä was awarded to Skanska Talonrakennus Oy. The value of the contract is EUR 6.7M. The HVAC contract for the Lauttasaari station was won by EMC Talotekniikka Oy. The value of the contract is EUR 3.5M. The 2.8M electrical contract for the Lauttasaari station was awarded to Quattroservices Oy.

Construction and building services engineering contracts for most of the remaining stations and the entire underground line will be awarded later this autumn.

– Once again we managed to secure excellent operators for electrical and HVAC work. This autumn will be extremely busy in terms of procurement because excavation work will be finished next year, and work on the stations will begin immediately after that. We are currently looking for high-quality operators with extensive experience, says Matti Kokkinen, CEO of Länsimetro Oy.

Almost 60 per cent – some 16,300 metres – of the underground tunnels have already been excavated.

– At the moment, we are making excellent progress with the excavation work. In August we made a new all-time record by excavating 1.6 kilometres of tunnel. The standard is about a kilometre per month, says Matti Kokkinen, CEO of Länsimetro Oy.

More information available at

Matti Kokkinen, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. 050 347 1558
Länsimetro Oy is a company jointly owned by the Cities of Espoo and Helsinki, tasked with building the Länsimetro underground line from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä. The company was established in 2007. Länsimetro’s office is situated in Tapiola, Espoo.

Kalliorakennus-Yhtiöt Oy is the winner of the Länsimetro Safest Metro Construction Site competition. The competition period was 1 January-30 June. The competition is organised semi-annually, and all current Länsimetro projects participate.

– Occupational safety and health is always a priority on our construction sites. I’m happy to see that this also shows in the competition results, said Work Foreman Meeri Pöllänen of Kalliorakennus-Yhtiöt Oy at the award ceremony.

In the competition, the current Länsimetro excavation projects were assessed on the basis of accident frequency and civil engineering measurements (‘MVR’ in Finnish, referring to the assessment and development of safety at civil engineering construction sites). In the assessment, the weighting coefficient for contract-specific MVR measurement results was 60 per cent, while that of accident frequency was 40 per cent.

The competition emphasised MVR measurements. Each contractor makes a weekly MVR measurement round to determine the situation and safety level at the site. These weekly inspections reveal any shortcomings in construction site safety while acknowledging the things that have been carried out properly.

The construction site was presented with the Länsimetro ‘Safest Metro Construction Site’ competition trophy, a gilded piece of rail track.

More information available at

Matti Kokkinen, CEO, Länsimetro Oy, tel. 050 347 1558

Länsimetro Oy is a company jointly owned by the Cities of Espoo and Helsinki, tasked with building the Länsimetro underground line from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä. The company was established in 2007. Länsimetro’s office is situated in Tapiola, Espoo.