Some ten months after the opening of the Jokeri Line last October, on 12 August 2024, Helsinki was able to celebrate again: The new tram line 13, which provides tangential access to north-east Helsinki, opened for service. 79.3 million euros were invested in the project. The line runs over 4.5 kilometres of newly built tracks with narrow gauge of 1,000 mm and connects the northern terminus in Maistraatintori (Pasila) with Nihti in the port area to the east of the city centre.
Helsinki (Helsingfors in Swedish language) and Espoo (Esbo) in the capital region of Finland, now have a total of twelve tram and light rail lines, making the system in total clearly the third largest in the Nordic countries after the systems in Gothenburg, Sweden and Oslo, Norway.
The tram line 13, which in total is 7 km long with 14 stops, running between West Pasila, Pasila (Böle) Railway Station, Kalasatama (Fiskehamnen) metro station and Nihti (Knekten), converts Helsinki’s traditional inner city tram network more and more into a mix of a modern tram and light rail system. The light rail lines 11 and 12 currently under construction towards the island of Laajasalo will contribute to this development, too, as will the tram line 13 which runs via Vallila gardens and the Kumpula Botanical gardens on a completely light-rail-like separated alignment, where they created a sanctuary for insects (or an insect hotel) at Nylanderinpuisto (Nylandersparken), and the new stops themselves are green and lush.
As with the Jokeri Light Rail Line 15 which opened in October 2023 connecting several local train stations and metro stations in a half-circle in East Helsinki, Northern Helsinki and in Espoo, it offers a connection that bypasses the city center, linking the most developing new districts in the Finnish Capital – the Pasila district with the main railway station, public transportation hubs, East and West residential districts and its shopping and office facilities and planned high-rise buildings, as well as the Kalasatama district currently under construction with more high-rise buildings and a metro station in the area open since 2007, much like Orestad in Copenhagen.
The tram line 13 uses mostly the tram vehicles produced by Skoda-Transtech, the older rolling stock by Valmet-Strömberg only oaccasionally. As the terminus at Nihti (Knekten) is going to be a junction with the Laajasalo (Degerö) light rail lines 11 and 12 (by 2027), there are plans to use the same light rail vehicles as on the Jokeri light rail line 15 later on also on the tram line 13 – although a traditional tram loop at the terminus at Nihti was constructed for the conventional tram vehicles. At Polariksenkatu (Polarisgatan), there is a close connection to a pedestrian bridge towards the island of Korkeasaari (Högholmen) where Helsinki’s zoo is located; this will also be served by the light rail lines 11 and 12.
A network scheme is available here:
https://www.urbanrail.net/eu/fi/helsinki/hel-tram/helsinki-tram.htm
