This week marks the opening of the West Metro, the extension of the Helsinki metro line all the way to Espoo. The metro that was originally meant to be opened 15 months ago, is finally operational, ready to take you from Vuosaari in the east all the way to Matinkylä in the west. But it has been a long journey. For those who are not familiar with the topic, but also for those who just have lost track of how many times the metro has been delayed, this is the tale of West Metro and its misadventures.
Our story begins in 1969. The City of Helsinki decides to start building the Eastern metro. Of course, this was preceded by a long planning period as the first idea of having a metro in Helsinki in the 1950s. Planning, designing, building, safety-testing took its time, but finally in 1982, you could take a metro all the way from the Central Railway Station to Itäkeskus. The coming years would see the opening of the stations Kamppi, Sörnäinen, Myllypuro, Kontula and Mellunmäki. Ruoholahti and the stretch from Itäkeskus to Vuosaari were not built until the 90s. A station of Kalasatama opened as late as 2007.
In 2006 Espoo voted for the building of a Western metro, phase one being the building extending the network from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä, and phase two from Matinkylä to Kivenlahti close to the border of Espoo and Kirkkonummi. The exact map was not decided on until 2009, but that year also marked when the building of the tunnel began. Back then the estimated grand opening would have been in late 2014. The budget is €450 million. By 2009 the budget is 714 million.
Map of the whole extension. This week marks the opening of the line from Ruoholahti to Matinkylä. Picture by Markus Säynevirta, OpenStreetMap contributors
In 2010 the Länsimetro website announces it will open by the end of 2015. A promotional video by Länsimetro released in December 2010 that upon completion the metro will “run automatically, without drivers.” The deadline is still intact in early 2011, and the rents and real estate ranks in the area surrounding the new tracks is reported to be on the rise. In May 2012 Yle publishes a hopeful report: while the blowing up of the tunnel to Matinkylä is still on-going, if everything goes smoothly and phase two can be initiated in 2013, the Metro could go all the way to Kivenlahti as early as 2018. The optimism is endearing.
The empty tunnel to Matinkylä is ready in late 2013 and visitors can come and have a look at the tunnel. But in 2014 the truth is revealed: the metro that was supposed to be opened in 2014 “won’t be ready until 2016” (yeah right). This is due to problems in the automatization of the old metro trains. Completion to Matinkylä by 2016 is actually wishful thinking on the Helsinki City Transport, HKL. The contractor Siemens fears the automatization and the completion won’t be done until November 2017. It’s not all bleak, however: the building of the second part of the tunnel, from Matinkylä to Kivenlahti, has already begun. And you know what, never mind, the metro won’t have automated trains after all. And thus, even though the costs of the project are still on the rise, in 2015 we rejoice that the (non-automated) metro will open on 15 August 2016. HSL has a big campaign with huge posters that say “light at the end of the tunnel.”
Yet, when June 2016 rolls in, it is announced the metro will have to be postponed until January 2017 – at the earliest. The delays are caused by errors in the conductor rail, that is, the system that provides the train with power. Another problem is the dust that rises in the tunnels when the trains speed past. These faults obviously had to be fixed as even the dust would have blocked the train sensors and ventilation filters. The budget is now €1.19 billion.
January 2017 and – to little surprise at this point – the metro isn’t running due to faults in safety. A press release suggests a start in June. In May, D-day is rescheduled for September. But, you know, testing is done and over with and from here on out it’s about regulatory approval, so that’s promising. In August Yle publishes a promisingly titled article “Still on track: Metro services likely to run in Espoo in September.”
September 15, the metro fina- Nah, just kidding. The control room is riddled with faulty error-messages. The new deadline is unknown, although it is assumed it might be “hopefully mid-October,” which sounds like a tight schedule for fixing all the electronics. October 3 marks the handover of the metro to Helsinki City Transport! Now before you pop open the bottle, please note that it still is not quite complete as there are tests to be done. The final test runs will take a minimum of two weeks. Again, it’s safety, but why was this not done earlier?
October turns into November, and still no metro, not even a date in sight. Will it or won’t it be running in two weeks? Who knows! There have been a few successful test run days, but both the media and the CEOs of the projects are cautious in making predictions. Which is perhaps for the better as most people at this point seem to have lost faith. But then finally the announcement: the western metro will start running November 18. Okay, now you can pop that bottle!
The West Metro project has faced so many problems and delays it has become a joke. Why did the costs increase so much from the initial budget? One theory is that there was not enough competition between contractors, allowing the contractors to charge higher prices. The delays during the past months have been largely due to testing and fixing flaws in safety. And sure, we don’t want to travel in a metro that has a broken alarm or ventilation systems. But why did it take so long for these problems to get fixed and surely some of them could have been avoided with some foresight? Why was such a large-scale project planned so poorly?
One delay or even two would not be so bad, but the 2016 delay had been preceded by such an enthusiastic campaign and the September 2017 delay was announced with such little notice. That the metro could finally be opened on November 18 was also announced just two weeks before. As this article is published we are still half-expectant of a last-minute plot twist. But credit where credit is due – they did it. Good job. At least now I can find comfort in knowing I’m not the only one who’s bad at planning, managing and finishing important projects within the deadline.