New Ring Rail Line to connect Helsinki-Vantaa Airport to centre of Helsinki

18-kilometre track will require 30 bridges

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One of the shortcomings of the Greater Helsinki area has been the lack of a rapid rail connection to the Helsinki-Vantaa airport from downtown Helsinki.
      If everything goes according to plan, a circular rail route across the Greater Helsinki area will be opened at the turn of the years 2013 and 2014. The route will offer a rail connection to Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport from Helsinki’s main railway station in about 30 minutes.
     
The new twin-track route will connect the Martinlaakso line with the main line via the Helsinki-Vantaa Airport. There will be five new stations, namely Kivistö, Aviapolis, Airport, Ruskeasanta, and Leinelä. In addition, there are reservations for another three stations: Vehkala, Petas, and Viinikkala.
      At peak hours, trains on the planned passenger line will be at 10-minute intervals and the trains will stop at all stations. The shortest travel time from Helsinki to the airport will be about 30 minutes.
      Flight passengers coming from the north will change from long distance trains to the Ring Rail Line in Tikkurila. The travel time from Tikkurila to the airport will be 8 minutes.
     
Currently, the rail master plan is under way, while around 200 people are working on the project in consulting and architectural offices, at the Finnish Rail Administration (RHK), and in the City Planning unit of the City of Vantaa’s Land Use and Environmental Department.
      Several other projects involving transport networks and land use are also connected to the implementation of the new Ring Rail Line.
      "The first construction project will be an around 8-km long tunnel, scheduled to be completed in 2009", reports Project Manager Maija Salonen from RHK.
     
The tunnel included in the master plan will start just before Ruskeasanta to the east of the airport.
      From there, the train will stop in a few minutes at the underground railway station called Airport, north of the round car park building. From there a 100-metre underway passage will lead to the Domestic Terminal.
      Another underground passage from beneath the carpark will go to the International Terminal.
     
After Airport the train will stop at Aviapolis, north of Ring Road III. The platform is in the centre of the curved station building, and the distance from the station to the Jumbo Shopping Centre and the Flamingo entertainment complex will be about 500 metres.
      Aviapolis is a dynamic centre of international trade near the Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport.
      After Aviapolis, the train will run in a tunnel almost another four kilometres, emerging from the tunnel in the Vantaanjoki valley. The maximum speed of trains is 120 km/h.
     
The next stop will be at Kivistö, just before the Hämeenlinna motorway. The ground-level station will be surrounded by a residential area, providing homes for 7,000 residents.
      The train will then proceed to the station of Vantaankoski and from there to Helsinki along the existing route via Martinlaakso, Myyrmäki and the northern suburbs of the capital.
     
The length of the planned railway line is 18 km, of which 8.1 km will be underground. Some 30 bridges will have to be built, including one of around 500 metres in length at the point where the line veers off from the main railway line heading north.
      Even though no final decision has been made on the project as yet, the construction is already under way.
      At present, the local water supplier Pääkaupungin Vesi is carrying out preliminary repairs in Tikkkurila in order to strengthen the tunnel which runs from Lake Päijänne, from where the residents living in the Greater Helsinki area get their water. The railway tunnel is planned to be built above the Päijänne tunnel.
     
The estimated costs of the planned Ring Rail Line are EUR 512 million. The Government is to make the final decision on the new circular route around August-September.
      Current plans call for the route to be opened by the end of 2013, while additional stations could be built only in the following decade.
      It is to be hoped, of course, that some form of express service will also be available for air passengers, with trains stopping for instance only at Tikkurila and Pasila on the way to downtown Helsinki.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Minister of Finance promises state funding for planned Espoo Metro extension (24.1.2006)

Links:
  Helsinki-Vantaa International Airport
  Ring Rail Line
  The Finnish Rail Administration (RHK)

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