Robert Schwandl’s Urban Rail Blog: HELSINKI

The tram network has been rearranged a
few months ago, so some issues I mentioned in 2013 have luckily be
solved. The funny letters that accompanied line 3 have disappeared,
now the lines are quite intelligible. One minor issue is still that
maps don’t mention the fact that lines 2, 3 and 7 are virtually one
single line. Of course, it shouldn’t be shown as such, but it should
be shown that these lines actually continue as a different line from
their terminus or even termini. A tram may start as line 3 at
Meilahti (empty, because there is no boarding platform on the
Kuusitie loop!), run through the city and then become line 2 at
Olympiaterminaali. Line 2 then runs up to Länsi-Pasila where it
becomes line 7 (there may be a longer layover here, though!), and
finally line 7 runs back through the city to terminate at
Länsiterminaali T2. So if it’s cold outside and you have nowhere to
go, this is your line. But the last couple of days it was not cold,
rather the contrary, and as we’re talking about the tram system, I
like the new Artic trams quite well, they runs smoothly and behave
well in curves, of which there are plenty, so all in all a solid car:

I was surprised that Helsinki didn’t opt for longer trams, but this
would probably restrict them to certain routes where platforms would
have to be lengthened. Because all stops (I think) in Helsinki have
proper platforms, very good. No street boarding. Most stops also have
shelters and, though often tiny and hidden in the upper corner of the
shelter, an electronic next-tram display:

I did miss such a monitor at some
termini where it might be useful to know how much time is left before
the waiting tram actually departs. Normal headways on weekdays are 10
minutes, and 12 on Sundays. The new Artic trams as well as the refurbished
older ones have air-conditioning which mostly works fine, but I did
find a few almost unbearably warm. And as is the European trend, no
windows to let the nice spring air come in. I wonder why decent
air-conditioning is so hard to install in Europe (I hate Berlin’s
buses in the summer, and the S-Bahn without air-conditioning is often
more pleasant). For the new line 3, a link was built between Auroran
sairaala and Töölön tulli, which created quite a long stretch
without any stop. I hope one will be added as the road along the new
track was still being rearranged. The Katajanokan terminaali is now
only served by line 5 which runs very rarely, but this is not visible
from the map, so you may wait for this tram in vain. Reading the
posted timetables at tram and bus stops is almost impossible for me
in Helsinki, again a very unconventional way for European standards
(although the Americans use something similar): basically all lines
are shown in one list, i.e. a list of departure times with the line
added to it, instead of a more typical easy-to-read chart for each
line.

Besides the major projects (the Jokeri
semi-circular light rail line and the “Bridge Line” to
Laajasalo to relieve the Metro between the city centre and
Herttoniemi, there are some smaller tram projects, but I haven’t seen
any which seem most apparent to me:

1) a short 600m extension from the
Käpylä loop to the railway station of the same name

2) a 1.4km extension for the Line 10
terminus at Pikku Huopalahti to Huopalahti railway station, which
could be done jointly with the Jokeri project.

These two extensions would
significantly improve the network effect of the tram and suburban
rail system. For many people, especially in the northwest, this would
make travelling, for example, to the airport much easier.

The fare system is still the same,
slightly increased fares (9 € for a Helsinki-only day pass), but I
have seen some hints that the zonal system may be reformed shortly.
Nowadays the distinction between Helsinki and not Helsinki is a bit
strange as the municipal territory extends a long way east but not
west, so for the same distance on the metro you may have to pay more
just because you live in Espoo and not in the far eastern suburbs. I
guess a semi-circular farezone system would be more appropriate.

Not much has improved on the S-Bahn
network as far as the points I mentioned in 2013 are concerned. Still
no special branding, although many new trains now carry a purple
livery, whereas outer suburban trains are green and white like all
other VR trains. The mess of line letters has not been sorted,
actually with the opening of the Airport line it got worse. These
service are labelled (P) for clockwise and (I) for anti-clockwise. I
hope that these letters mean something for the local population
because otherwise I’d call them inappropriate. (I) when written
isolatedly doesn’t really have a distinctive character, and (P) on
blue background and within a circle is mostly associated with a car
park. From my experience, also by writing about these systems, a
combination of a letter (for the system) and a number for the route
is the best option, and therefore it seems natural that even
Germany’s neighbouring countries like Poland, Czechia and Belgium
have adopted the S1, S3 style for suburban trains. This type of
designation has actually gone global, via Italy all the way to China,
where new lines built as part of the metro system but reaching rather
remote areas are labelled S1, S2, etc in most cities. Whereas
previously, different routes had already been shown on some maps in
different colours, they are now all purple. And I guess what’s most
confusing about these letters is that there is no distinction between
regular and rush-hour services. I find it too tiring to figure out
what the difference between N, K and T is and I wonder if it makes
that much difference to skip a few stations or whether it would be
better just to have a regular all-day 10-minute service on the
section to Kerava and drop a few letters instead. In fact, with a
train at least every 5 minutes between Helsinki and Hiekkaharju, I
bet that an all-stopping service at all times would be more reliable.
And this is just about the northeastern leg, the mess on the western
leg is similar. I can’t think of any other city in the world that
operates such a confusing stopping pattern, even Tokyo’s private
suburban railways seemed to be easier to understand. Some may say,
this is a foreign visitor’s problem, but although it may be no issue
for regular users, I am sure it prevents many occasional users from
taking these trains and they choose their car instead.

But all in all, the suburban service is
very good as for trains and frequencies, with the airport served
every ten minutes from either direction, with a train every five
minutes on some shared sections. The Stadler Flirt trains are very
nice, smoothly running and with well-working air-conditioning. They
do have steps though between carriages, probably ramps as seen on
other Flirts may be too steep for the low floor at the doors to
perfectly match the platform height. This morning I noticed again the
long distance at Helsinki station you have to walk from Metro or tram
to reach these trains, made more difficult as you walk against the
flow of arriving commuters.

Now let’s have a brief look at the
relatively new Airport Ring Line. It is not a proper ring, of course,
more a bubble (or if I remember correctly, in the early days it was
compared to a strawberry…), with trains starting from either
extreme side of Helsinki’s main station, (I) trains start on track 1
or 2 at the eastern side, and (P) trains depart from tracks 18 or 19
at the western side (actually not quite sure, and the HSL timetable
doesn’t indicate the track number, but shows it on the map!). No-one
would transfer between these two routes, as they would be able to do
that at Pasila. Taking the route anti-clockwise as I did, the eastern
suburban line is shared with frequent K or N services, so at almost
all stations up to Hiekkaharju there is a train about every 5
minutes. Tikkurila is a major station in the city of Vantaa and here
is where airport passengers change from long-distance trains to the
airport train. Local passengers can do this more conveniently at
Hiekkaharju where “around-the-corner” transfers can be done
on the same platform. After serving Leinelä in a growing suburb, the
train goes underground and reaches the airport after some 30 minutes.
Taking the P train from the other side of the Helsinki station would
take almost the same time, so it doesn’t really matter which one you
take.

I certainly took my first I train after
arriving from Berlin on Friday. Finding the station was easy as large
train symbols are depicted everywhere:

Getting a ticket may be more
difficult if you haven’t prepared yourself before as there is no-one
to help you. Just a few machines, some for VR trains and some for HSL
tickets. But as I was prepared well, I got my 4-day region ticket (35
€) rather easily. I didn’t really need it but didn’t want to bother
with different zones for each day, and in the end buying a region
tickets for several days may actually be cheaper than buying a day
ticket for each day, and choosing the different zones. For Vantaa and
the airport as well as the metro extension to Espoo, a region ticket
is required in any case. The tram system is entirely within Helsinki,
though.

Back to the airport station, once you
got your ticket follow the signs towards the platforms, it’s a bit of
a walk with two escalators (one rather long) until you reach the huge
cavern built for the station. Once on the platform, you could take
any train on either side to go into Helsinki, but if you need to take
a long-distance train make sure the screen also mentions Tikkurila.
The same is true in the other direction if you need to go towards
Espoo and beyond, make sure the screen says Huopalahti:

On the side
walls, a metro-style strip map shows all the stations served from
this platform side and how many minutes it will take you to get there
(the metro doesn’t offer this service! See below!):

On Friday morning after rush hour, only
single units operated the line, so the station, prepared for 3-unit
trains looks very large. On Monday morning, a 2-unit train took me
back to the airport. Unfortunately along the middle of the wide
platform, there are many structures, one actually has a ramp going
downwards, no idea what for, maybe a sort of emergency exit? So the
view over the entire platform is rather obstructed. On parts of the
vaulted outer walls there is an artwork to embellish the otherwise
sober design. Aviapolis station is basically identical. Heading east,
the train takes up speed (the current speed is actually displayed on
the screen, showing 115 km/h or more at times) and returns to the
surface. The train then reaches Kivistö, a covered subsurface
station in an area which is seeing a lot of housing construction:

After this detour northwest, the train eventually gets aligned
southwards heading for Helsinki. It stops at Vekhala, a station in
the middle of nowhere, there is just a Fashion Center and a park&ride
car park visible from the platform. A few hundred metres further
south, but after crossing a motorway (Kehä III – 3rd ring), is
Vantaankoski, the former and now rebuilt terminus. Serving all
stations on what used to be the M train through Martinlaakso, the I
train returns to Helsinki station after a journey approximately one
hour long.

So, despite the “calling all
stations” service, I generally like such an airport service and
prefer it to an express train which may be faster but only runs every
30 minutes (and often requires a special fares – see Vienna’s CAT, or
the Arlanda Express in Stockholm or Flytoget in Oslo). The trains are
large enough for people with luggage without disturbing the regular
local passengers. I find it much more relaxed to show up at the
railway station without looking at timetables and just take the next
train which is always leaving in a few minutes.

 

And now let’s take a look at the
long-awaited, long-delayed western metro extension from Ruoholahti to
Matinkylä [For a full set of photos of each station visit my dedicated gallery here]. I had long planned to revisit Helsinki when this route
opens, meant to go in the winter to enjoy a few days of real northern
darkness, but when the “Länsimetro” finally opened without
much prior announcement back in November 2017, I suddenly got ill and
had to cancel my spontaneously booked trip (well, Finnair didn’t have
mercy on me, so I lost the money…). In the end I waited until they
announced real good weather (20 degrees in May!) to decide for
another spontaneous trip, now using easyJet who had recently taken
over those slots from what used to be AirBerlin.

I have thoroughly looked at all eight
new stations, took the escalators up and walked outside to see how
the Metro is changing the areas its serves, and a lot is going on.
Not so much at Lauttasaari and Koivusaari, both still on Helsinki
territory, the first lying withing an already built-up area, and the
latter at the western edge of the same island, so probably good to
get off here for a nice stroll along the island’s coastal paths. But
there is no room form much development, so the station seems a bit of
a waste of money! It’s a pity that the entire extension was built
deep underground, because a surface or elevated alignment would have
provided nice views. Instead the tunnel was blasted rather deep under
the seabed.

I explored the route on a Saturday
morning, so I didn’t see the regular passenger movements. This is
most apparent at Keilaniemi, where there are some new office blocks
in a waterfront development around the station, but no-one there but
a bored security guard.

Aalto Yliopisto (University) doesn’t get very
busy on Saturdays either, I took the eastern exit where some bus
connections were shown, but ended up in a construction site for a
huge university building. I walked around it hoping to find the
western entrance in this wide-spread university campus, and luckily I
headed more or less in the right direction until I found a small
signpost indicating the entrance. I probably wouldn’t have seen the
entrance from that distance, especially as there was no logo pole
visible. Once in front of the entrance I discovered one, but I think
these should be placed to be spotted from a distance rather than just
a sign at the entrance. And Helsinki does have a very nice and large
logo recognisable from the distance!

All the stations have a rather
distinctive ceiling decoration, stylish lamps in most cases, but
Aalto University has a ceiling made of brown panels, creating a
rather dark space. This becomes even more striking as you reach the
following station Tapiola which is extremely bright and pleasant
compared to Aalto University. Tapiola, somehow the eastern centre of
Espoo with a lot of shops, is the terminus for every other train
arriving from the east, but as for now, only the western exit is
open, I guess due to construction work continuing on the surface and
for an underground bus station. 

Getting out at Tapiola is extremely
weird, several flights of escalators, for the last bit you can also
opt for a lift (of course, you can take lifts at all stations, but
it’s not always faster, sometimes you need two lifts to reach the
surface) or even climb a long set of stairs in the open-air. On the
way back I discovered another route which makes you walk through the
underground car park of a shopping mall. Tapiola not only has stylish
hugh lamps hanging from the high ceiling, but also a cute huge girl
with paint on her fingers, so she must have left those colour strokes
visible along some walls as you access the station.

The distinction between line M1 and M2
is hardly visible anywhere, not on maps or screens, just on the
electronic distination board inside trains which say e.g. “M1
Matinkylä” for those trains continuing beyond Tapiola.

Urheilupuisto surprises with a high ceiling which continues the
floating tiles used on the walls above the platforms, one of my
favourites. Around this station as well as the following Niittykumpu,
there is a lot of construction going on. 

Niittykumpu is different
from the rest as the wall cladding features some proper colours,
whereas in the other stations shades of black and white dominate. The
entrance is directly integrated into a smaller shopping centre and
somewhat hidden as not much orange is visible outside. Again, a logo
pole placed on the street corner would help to identify the station
entrance from some distance. The current terminus at Matinkylä is
certainly one of the highlights of this line, with its wide and
barely obstructed platform covered by a swung white ceiling with a
decent moving light effect. The station is integrated into a huge
shopping mall and underground bus station (which may get less busy
once the line is extended to Kivenlahti). Matinkylä only has an exit
at the eastern end of the platform, although an emergency exit is
available at the other end, too.

From Matinkylä, I took buses 143 and
147 to explore the area of the forthcoming extension to Kivenlahti,
which is also being built completely underground, though it partly
runs through sparsely populated area. I could see several
construction sites (easily recognisable by orange fences!), except at
Espoolahti on the way back on bus 543, but maybe I looked in the
wrong place there.

So, all in all I enjoyed the new
extension despite some negative points: 1) deep alignment resulting
in long accesses; 2) full underground alignment with no views, so for
this the older eastern Metro is nicer; 3) contrary to a global
convention, the strip map on the respective wall shows the entire
line and not just the section served by the train from that platform.
Most metros show the section not served by this train in a faded
grey:

As I visited on a Saturday morning, I’m
not able to confirm complaints I heard about overcrowding due to the
fact that the new extension was only built with platforms long enough
for 4-car trains instead of six on the older sections. This decision
was taken in view of driverless running, a project cancelled during
construction. It was certainly a huge mistake not to make provisions
for platform lengthening! In many modern metros, planners thought
that driverless operation would allow to reduce the scale of the
stations, but many have regretted it, see Copenhagen or Lille. The
slightest disruption may lead to extreme overcrowding of stations and
trains, obstruction of doors and thus a complete collapse of the
system. Helsinki is lucky to have probably the world’s widest metro
cars (3.2m!), so a 4-car train may carry as many people as an 8-car
trains on Berlin’s narrow lines U1-U4. The lack of provisions for
longer platforms is the more incomprehensible as the stations seem to
be built very generously, if not oversized, so the stations box or
cavern would not really need more volume, just a different
arrangement of the escalator and lift shafts, which now occupy the
full width of the platform.

Compared to the shiny new stations, the
old stations in the city centre appear rather dated. All stations
have received new signage (and as if they were following my advice in
my 2013 blog, Swedish now appears in normal font, while Finnish is in
bold, and English if used, in italics!), but nothing else seems to
have been done for many years. Ex-Kaisaniemi, now Helsingin Yliopisto
would have deserved a major clean up with the station renaming, but
also Rautatientori and Kamppi look rather worn-down and could do with
a bit of modernisation.

I’m looking forward to my next visit to
Finland, the next occasion would be the new tram in Tampere, followed
probably by the Jokeri tangential light rail line and the next five
stations of the Länsimetro in Helsinki.

LINKS