Rail traffic about to start through Vuosaari Harbour track’s 13.5-km tunnel

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Traffic is to commence on the Vuosaari Harbour railway link by the end of November. Test runs have already begun while the track’s technical operation is still being double-checked.
      The head of the Finnish Rail Administration's (RHK) Project Planning Unit Harri Yli-Villamo says that the smooth running of the technology has to be verified particularly carefully, because the railway also includes a 13.5-kilometre long tunnel.
      “Never before has Finland built a train tunnel this long, and in general no rail tunnels have been constructed in a long time”, Yli-Villamo points out.
     
"We now have a permit for test runs, and the idea is to get the actual operating permit by the end of next week.”
      The harbour railway spur consists of only one track, and it is used exclusively by cargo traffic.
      Initially roughly ten trains a day will use the track. Further plans include raising this figure to 16-20 trains in a 24-hour period. At first only ten per cent of the new harbour’s goods traffic will utilise the railway connection.
      “The objective has been to have a third of the cargo transported by rail, but a realistic goal would be in the region of 20%. This is because the majority of the imported goods will remain in the capital area and nearby, where they can be best delivered by truck. Exported goods, in turn, can come from further out in Finland”, Yli-Villamo explains.
     
The harbour track is 19 kilometres long.
      Its northern end is in Kerava’s Savio district. In addition to the long Savio tunnel, the track also includes a 600-metre tunnel under the Labbacka hill near the harbour. Freight trains will travel on the track at a speed of 80 km/h.
      The trains bringing goods into the harbour will primarily travel at night and in the early morning. The trains leaving the harbour will travel in the evening.
      The track cost EUR 202 million to build.
      The final figure was about 50 per cent above the original cost estimate.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Sörnäinen Harbour will move to Vuosaari overnight on November 24th (17.11.2008)
  Longest road tunnel in Finland re-opened (23.1.2008)

Links:
  Vuosaar Harbour Project web service

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