The Helsinki City Rail Loop ( fi, Pisararata, sv, Centrumslingan) is a planned new railway line in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Southern Finland Southern Finland ( fi, Etelä-Suomen lääni, sv, Södra Finlands län) was a province of Finland from 1997 to 2009. It bordered the provinces of Western Finland and Eastern Finland. It also bordered the Gulf of Finland and Russia. History O ...

. It is to be a

double track A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. Overview In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lin ...

balloon loop A balloon loop, turning loop, or reversing loop ( North American Terminology) allows a rail vehicle or train to reverse direction without having to shunt or stop. Balloon loops can be useful for passenger trains and unit freight trains. Bal ...

in the shape of a tear drop.

Helsinki commuter rail Helsinki commuter rail ( fi, Helsingin seudun lähijunaliikenne, sv, Huvudstadsregionens närtrafik) is a commuter rail system serving Greater Helsinki and the surrounding county of Uusimaa. The system is a joint venture between the regional t ...

currently terminating at

Helsinki Central railway station Helsinki Central Station ( fi, Helsingin päärautatieasema, sv, Helsingfors centralstation) ( HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 peo ...

would be diverted into tunnels under the city centre. New underground stations would be created in

Töölö Töölö (; sv, Tölö, formerly spelled ''Thölö'') is the collective name for the neighbourhoods Etu-Töölö ( sv, Främre Tölö, lit=Front Töölö, links=no) and Taka-Töölö ( sv, Bortre Tölö, lit=Rear Töölö, links=no) in Helsinki ...

(west), Helsinki city centre (south; likely to be located directly under Forum shopping centre) and

Hakaniemi metro station Hakaniemi metro station (, ) is a station on the Helsinki Metro. It serves the central Helsinki districts of Hakaniemi and Kallio. Both lines M1 and M2 serve Hakaniemi. There are 28 bicycle parking spaces at the station. Opened on 1 June 1982, ...

(east), with a possible fourth station at

Alppila Alppila ( sv, Alphyddan) is a quarter of Helsinki, Finland. It is located north of the city centre, between the districts of Kallio and Pasila, and together with Harju it forms the district of Alppiharju. Alppila has a population of 4,244 (as ...

(north) depending on how the connection to the main line is made in relation to the existing northern

Pasila railway station Pasila station ( fi, Pasilan rautatieasema, sv, Böle järnvägstation; previous Swedish name was ''Fredriksberg'' until 1990) is a railway station in Helsinki, Finland, approximately north of Helsinki Central. It is the second busiest railway ...

. The new tracks will be long. The target is to free up capacity at Helsinki Central railway station to allow for expansion of long-distance trains; the existing capacity between Pasila and Helsinki has been all used up with the opening of the

Ring Rail Line The Ring Rail Line ( fi, Kehärata, sv, Ringbanan; formerly ''Marjarata'') is a railway route in the area of the city of Vantaa, in the Greater Helsinki Metropolitan Area of Finland. It connects Helsinki-Vantaa Airport and the adjacent Aviapolis ...

in 2014. Detailed planning took place during 2012–2015, resulting in the project being shelved in February 2015. The project was initially expected to cost €956 million if completed by the 2020s. For the planning stages, €40 million was allocated. By 2019 the expected cost of the original plan had risen to €1.5 billion. In June 2022, the

Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency The Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency ( fi, Väylävirasto, sv, Trafikledsverket), shortened to FTIA, is a Finnish government agency responsible for the maintenance of Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Rep ...

(FTIA) published a report stating that the City Rail Loop is not necessary, and suggested alternatives such as renewal of commuter train fleets and improved railway signalling. Individual changes in gear and geometry are also needed in the railway area of the Central railway station and Pasila. However, the study has looked at a situation in which the City Rail Loop,

Lentorata The ''Lentorata'' ('Flight track') is a planned railway line in Finland, designed to link Helsinki Airport to the Finnish long-distance railway network and to complement the current airport connection via the Ring Rail Line. Construction of the l ...

, the new direct line between Riihimäki and Tampere and the

Helsinki–Turku high-speed railway The Helsinki–Turku high-speed railway or Espoo–Salo-oikorata (Espoo–Salo direct line), also formerly known as the ELSA-rata (Espoo-Lohja-Salo), is a proposed railway line in the planning stage to provide a more direct connection between He ...

would have been implemented.

References

External links

City Rail Loop
(Finnish Transport Agency) {{Railway lines in Finland Railway lines in Finland Transport in Helsinki 5 ft gauge railways in Finland Proposed railway lines in Finland Railway tunnels in Finland Underground commuter rail

See also

References

External links