Nordicum - Real Estate Annual Finland 2015 | Page 25

Photo: ALA Architects

Kaitaa, Soukka, Espoonlahti and Kivenlahti.
The price tag for the project is around EUR
800 million.
Also, Jukka Mäkelä, Mayor of Espoo,
has applauded the government’s summertime decision - and vision. The extra stretch
makes it viable for Espoo to pursue a more
compact community structure that is based
on rails. Mäkelä added that, for example,
Espoonlahti is already a city centre of 55,000
residents and would benefit from better connectivity: there is no cause to delay with the
metro project.
In November 2014, construction began
with the excavation of work tunnels for
Finnoo Station and the Sammalvuori train
depot. At the same time work began in
Kivenlahti and Espoonlahti, and in December in Soukka and Kaitaa.
The entire line from Matinkylä to
Kivenlahti will be completed in 2020 at the
earliest. The original, Ruoholahti-Matinkylä
stretch of the line will be completed in late
2015 and open for traffic in the autumn of
2016.

Mastering the Metro

elections are coming in early 2015 and no
one can say what new political winds will
be blowing then.
“The time to make the decision was
now. Since we got the green light, we will
make sure that this project will be a true success,” says Kokkinen.

Western Horizons
The “extension to the extension” will mean
adding a stretch of seven kilometres to the
line, reaching almost to the municipal border. Along the way, five new metro stations
will be realised – from east to west: Finnoo,

According to Matti Kokkinen, the Ruoholahti-Matinkylä stretch is in fine form and
the metro stations are being built. It is also
apparent that the metro-building organisation has learned a thing or two along the
way. Kokkinen and his team are looking to
put all that knowledge to use good in making the “bonus stretch”.
“We have most of our builders returning to work on the continuation line onwards
from Matinkylä,” Kokkinen says, adding
that the market was “hungry” for this type
of a project. The work starts with the excavation of six work tunnels that will keep the
work crews busy for a year.
“After that, it will take 2.5 to 3 years
to build the actual tunnels. The secret that
allows us to stick to the schedule is starting
work on the metro stations as soon as we’re
able to,” Kokkinen reveals.
At present, the metro builders expect
no problems from the earth itself: the ground
to be excavated consists of the very same
hard stone which is typical to the Helsinki
Metropolitan Area. The metro will run in
a tunnel from beginning to end, featuring
two parallel tunnels with connecting tunnels, which have safety locks at 150–170
meter intervals. The connecting tunnels act
as maintenance and rescue connections.

Safety First
The tunnel sections between the stations
have vertical shafts, which have pressure
equalising/smoke vent shafts and emergency
exit stairways to ground level at 600–700
meters intervals minimum. An access driveway tunnel will be built for every station.
These tunnels will provide a connection to
metro tunnels during construction time and
operational years.
The safety arrangements and fire technical planning for the metro tunnel is conducted in accordance to fire technical planning instructions drafted for planning of the
West Metro. The instructions have already
been accepted by the building regulation/
rescue authorities.
Kokkinen and Lo խ