Jokeri Light Rail, Helsinki metropolitan area

Jokeri Light Rail was constructed between Itäkeskus in Helsinki and Keilaniemi in Espoo. Jokeri Light Rail increases the reliability of public transportation in the East-West direction in the Helsinki metropolitan area. It has also opened up opportunities for new residential construction along the fast light railway. The length of the light railway line is about 25 kilometres, of which about 16 km in Helsinki and 9 km in Espoo. The line has 34 pairs of stops. The line started operations in autumn 2023. The project was originally scheduled for completion in summer 2024, but through good cooperation the project was finished almost a year earlier than scheduled as well as below original estimated budget. 

Close cooperation through alliance model

The client organisation (the cities of Helsinki and Espoo), the designer organisation and the contractor formed a joint organisation called an alliance. The contractors were selected in a separate tendering process. The winning coalition consisted of YIT and NRC Group Finland. We served as the project supervisor in this project for the construction. A consortium consisting of Ramboll Finland Oy, Sitowise Oy and Sweco served as a design consultant for the project.

As a major service provider, our expertise is in large and demanding projects. We have good resources and a wealth of expertise and know-how. The project included the design and implementation of a light railway and depot. In the alliance model, cooperation between the client and the designers is continuous and immediate. A common workspace, the Big Room, ensures fast information flow and strengthens cooperation.

The principles and advantages of the alliance model are well understood in Jokeri Light Rail. Plans drawn up during the development phase were made in collaboration with designers and builders. Through this process, the plans are viable from the start and the transition to the construction phase is smoother than in the traditional model, where design and construction are successive, separate steps. The collaboration also enabled us to get accurate cost information.

“Urbanisation plays a significant part in our current strategy and Jokeri Light Rail is an excellent and sustainable solution for the metropolitan area’s internal traffic. YIT is highly experienced in alliance contracting and our organisation has a very broad and diverse range of expertise. We can simultaneously carry out multiple large alliance projects without problems. Even a huge and highly challenging infrastructure project like this can be successfully and cost-efficiently managed in cooperation with all the alliance partners,” says Antti Korhonen, Vice President, YIT.

Project areas

In the development phase of the project (12/2017–5/2019), we prepared an implementation plan that covered the schedule and costs of the construction project. An integrated project organisation was set up during the development phase and a target cost for the alliance was calculated, to which all the parties of the alliance committed themselves. The implementation phase and the actual construction work started in June 2019. After the construction work, several tests were carried out and test traffic commenced. The line started operations in autumn 2023. The project was originally scheduled for completion in summer 2024, but the timetable was compressed by almost a year. 

Project content on our part:

• Project management
• Design management and production management
• Cost accounting
• Construction of streets and tracks
• Bridge technology and engineering structures
• Municipal engineering along the railway line
• Building information modelling and measurement
• Temporary traffic arrangements
• Safety and quality management
• Tunneling technology
• Geotechnical engineering
• PR and communications
• Information management
• Design and implementation of a depot
  
  

Advantages for residents

Jokeri Light Rail enables the future growth of commuter numbers and helps to avoid congestion in the Helsinki Metropolitan area. Jokeri Light Rail replaced the bus line 550, which carries nearly 40,000 passengers a day. It is estimated that by 2025 the rail will serve 90,000 passengers on each weekday. A passenger rail car can accommodate nearly three times more passengers than a bus. In addition, the high-speed light railway advances the construction of new homes and services along the line. It also reduces traffic emissions significantly.

railroad construction

Varikkotie – wide-ranging expertise in infrastructure construction in the Jokeri Light Rail project