User:JIP/Helsinki tram

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Helsinki tram
Above: Variotram at Senaatintori Below: Valmet MLNRV in Hakaniemi
Above: Variotram at Senaatintori
Below: Valmet MLNRV in Hakaniemi
Overview
LocaleHelsinki, Finland
Transit typeTram
Number of lines12
Daily ridership200,000 (weekdays)[1]
Operation
Began operation1891
Operator(s)HKL
Number of vehicles132
Technical
System length
Total
110 km (68.4 mi)[2]
Passenger traffic
89.5 km (55.6 mi)[2]
Track gauge1
Minimum radius of curvature15 m
Electrification600 V DC[3]
System map

The Helsinki tram network forms part of the Helsinki public transport system organised by Helsinki Regional Transport Authority and operated by Helsinki City Transport in the Finnish capital city of Helsinki. The trams are the main means of transport in the city centre. 54.9 million trips were made in 2009. The Helsinki system is one of the oldest electrified tram networks in the world.

Since 1999, new low-floor trams have been gradually brought into operation, but technical difficulties have slowed this progress. In 2004, Helsinki City Transport bought old eight-axle trams from Germany for relief during this transitional phase.

Lines[edit]

Trunk Lines[edit]

There are 12 tram lines in operation. Line 9 is the latest to open on 10 August 2008, and also the latest to have its route changed, with the opening of the extension to West Harbour on 13 August 2012.

Helsinki Regional Transport Authority is reportedly planning to rebrand lines 3B and 3T, with line 3B becoming line 3 and line 3T becoming line 2.[4]

Helsinki Tram Trunk Lines as of 13 August 2012
Line number From Via To Service hours[A] Depot
1 Market Square Kallio Käpylä 10:00–15:00 Koskela
1A Eira Market Square, Kallio 06:00–09:30
15:00–18:30
3B[B] Kaivopuisto Eira, Kallio Eläintarha 06:00–01:30 Koskela
3T[B] Kamppi, Töölö
4 Katajanokka Mannerheimintie Munkkiniemi 06:00–01:30 Töölö
4T[C] Katajanokka ferry terminal 10:00–11:30
16:00–17:00
6 Hietalahti Hakaniemi Arabia 06:00–23:30 Koskela
7A[D] Senate Square Töölö, Pasila Senate Square 06:00–23:30 Koskela / Töölö
7B[E] Pasila, Töölö
8 Jätkäsaari Sörnäinen Arabia 06:00–23:30 Koskela
9 West Harbour ferry terminal Kallio Itä-Pasila 06:00–24:00 Koskela
10 Kirurgi Mannerheimintie Pikku Huopalahti 06:00–23:30 Töölö

Additional Lines[edit]

Line 5 Culture Tram from the inside.
Line 5 Culture Tram from the outside.

In addition to the 12 trunk lines three special exist: Line 5 Culture Tram, the museum line operated by Helsinki City Transport in collaboration with Oy Stadin Ratikat Ab[5] and the Spårakoff pub tram. The Culture Tram is operated for limited hours on three days of the week, while the museum and pub trams run during the summer months. These lines do not appear in the route map included with this article.

Additional Tram Lines as of summer 2012
Line number From Via To Service hours[A] Depot
5 Culture Tram [I] Ooppera Rautatientori Linjat 13:00–16:00 Wed, Thu, Fri Koskela
-[F] Market Square Kruunuhaka, Rautatientori Market Square 10:00–17:00[G]
PUB[E] Rautatientori Kallio, Töölö, Market Square Rautatientori 14:00–21:00[H]
A Approximate week day figures in 24-hour clock. Accurate times at HKL site.
B Together lines 3B and 3T form a figure-of-eight circular running in opposite directions.
C Ferry arrival and departure times only.
D Clockwise circular.
E Counter-clockwise circular.
F Non-numbered museum line.
G Summer weekends only.
H Summers only.
I The Culture Tram has various art exhibitions and performances on board. The line is operated with a single eight-axle Düwag tram, originally purchased from Mannheim, Germany, and refurbished specifically for use as the Culture Tram.

Technology and infrastructure[edit]

Two Valmet Nr I trams, the one in the front on line 4 and the one behind on its way to Töölö tram depot.

The tram network is built almost exclusively on the streets of Helsinki, making it a traditional tram system rather than a light rail one. The track gauge is one metre. The network consists almost entirely of double track. In some parts the tracks are separated from other road traffic; elsewhere they share road space with cars and buses.

The trams are powered with electricity conveyed by overhead wires. Trams have their own traffic lights, distinguished from normal lights in that they are based on symbols of single colour: an upward-pointing arrow signifies "go", a horizontal line "prepare to stop" and the letter S "stop". The traffic lights are synchronised to allow tram and bus traffic to flow relatively smoothly. This system is called HeLMi (Helsinki Public Transport Signal Priority and Passenger Information). [6]

Depots[edit]

Töölö tram depot.

As of 2010, there are four tram depots/workshops in Helsinki; HKL-maintained depots in Töölö, Vallila and Koskela, and a Bombardier Transportation-maintained workshop at Pasilan konepaja.

  • The Töölö depot houses trams running on lines 4 and 10, as well as some of those on lines 7A and 7B, approximately one third of the whole rolling stock. The Helsinki tram museum is located next to the Töölö depot. Between 1948 and 1974 the Töölö depot also housed the trolleybuses used on Helsinki's sole trolleybus line.[7]
  • The Vallila depot houses repair-, paint- and rebuilding facilities, and administrative functions.[8]
  • The Koskela depot is the largest tram depot in Helsinki. It houses approximately two thirds of trams in the city, and contains training facilities.[9] The Koskela depot is linked to the main Helsinki tram network by a long section of double track that is not used by passenger-serving trams.[10]
  • The Pasilan konepaja tram workshop was established in mid-2008 by Bombardier transportation as a repair shop for the Helsinki Variotrams,[11] the maintenance of which became Bombardier's responsibility in May 2008.[12] The workshop takes up a part of the former VR Group electric locomotive workshop at Pasilan konepaja. As of August 2008, the workshop does not have a permanent link to the tram network (although tracks run just outside the depot doors); instead, portable tracks are used to run the trams to and from the workshop.[11]

Planning process is under way (as of October 2008) for excavating a new underground tram depot in the base rock below the existing Vallila depot and adjacent city blocks. The underground depot is planned to have facilities for housing 180 trams plus repair facilities and staff parking spaces.[13][14] The underground depot would partially or completely replace the Koskela depot, which is inconveniently located far from normally operated tram lines and would require major reconstruction if kept in use.[15] An alternative is rebuilding and expanding the Koskela depot, but this is projected to be more expensive than the planned underground depot.[16]

Rolling stock[edit]

Helsinki City Transport operates the tram network with a total of 132 trams in scheduled passenger service. In addition there are six trams in reserve and eight in charter use. The Valmet Nr I+, Valmet Nr II+ and Variotram series comprise the backbone of the fleet. Both Finnish- and German-made vehicles are in use. In 2006—2012, the whole Nr II+ series underwent a major modification process in which a 6.5 m (21 ft 4 in) low-floor midsection was fitted in the tram. The type designation was changed from Nr II+ to MLNRV to reflect the modifications made and the extended trams were re-introduced in traffic gradually as the modification works completed. HKL has also decided to fit ten of the older NrI trams with a low-floor midsection, bringing the total number of MLNRV trams up to 52 by 2012, when the modifications are expected to be complete. HKL purchased ten DUEWAG series second-hand trams from the German town of Mannheim to cover for the shortage of rolling stock caused by the problems with the Variotrams.

The following table lists the current rolling stock. Corresponding articles have further details about the cars in use.

Rolling stock as of April 2012
Tram Type Car # Built Acquired Modified Seats Standees L[F] W[G] H[H] S[I] C[J] R[K]
a Valmet Nr I+ d 31—70 1973—1975 1973—1975 1993—2003, 2005… 39 106 20.1 2.3 3.7 ×
c MLNRV f71—112 1983—1987 1983—1987 1996—2006, 2008—2012 49 120 26.5 2.3 3.7 ×
d Variotram l 201—240 1998—2003 1998—2003 55 80 24.4 2.3 3.7 ×
e DUEWAG GT6 i 151—154 1970 2005 52 93 19.1 2.2 3.8 ×
g DUEWAG GT8N k 161—166 1962, 1964 2007—2008 1991—1992 55 120 25.7 2.2 3.8 ×
j HRO A7 g 135 1928 1928 1988 21 26 10.2 2.1 3.7 ×
i HRO A4 j 157 1930 1930 1987 21 26 10.2 2.1 3.7 ×
l Karia HM IV m 320 1955 1955 1985 29 69 13.5 2.3 3.6 ×
h Valmet RM 1 n 332, 339[L] 1955 1955 1987, 2003—2004 29 69 13.5 2.3 3.6 ×
m Karia HM V c 9—14, 175[M] 1959 1959 2004—2007 31 57 13.5 2.3 3.6 ×
f DUEWAG GT8 h 150 1967 2004 1970, 2004 64 140 25.7 2.2 3.8 ×
k HRO A9 b BS 1[N] 1917 2007 2007 28 0 11.5 2.2 ×
Totals 146 6,777[O] 14,299[P] 132 8 6

F Car length in meters
G Car width in meters
H Car height in meters with pantograph
I Scheduled service
J Charter service
K Reserve units

L Number 339 is owned by Oy Stadin Ratikat Ab.
M Number 175 is a restaurant tram and is counted as charter.
N A replica of Brändö Spårvägs Ab tram number 1 from 1917.
O 6,346 seats in scheduled service; 245 seats in charter service; 186 seats in reserve.
P 13,552 standees in scheduled service; 405 standees in charter service; 342 standees in reserve.
Reference for the tabular data: Finnish Tramway Society

Future acquisitions[edit]

The board of HKL decided on 2 December 2010 to order 40 new articulated trams from the Finnish manufacturer Transtech Oy .[17] Transtech is the direct descendant of the state-owned Valmet, which built Helsinki's NrI and NrII trams. Two new trams are to start test runs in 2013 and the production series deliveries are expected to start in 2015. The order is worth €113 million and it includes an option for a further 90 trams.

The new Transtech tram has a double-articulated, eight-axle design. It is planned to be 27.3 m (89 ft 7 in) long and to have 73 fixed seats, 14 foldable seats and space for 75 standee passengers.[17] The design has a 100 % low floor and conventional, turning bogies designed to run without problems on Helsinki's challenging old-fashioned track network.[18]

To ease the construction of new tram tracks into Jätkäsaari during 2009–2015 (see below), the acquisition of bi-directional trams was considered.[19] However, HKL decided to build the Jätkäsaari extensions with conventional return loops, even though this means that some of the loops built in the intermediate phases will likely not be used in regular traffic when Jätkäsaari is completed. The next time bi-directional rolling stock might be considered is the possible conversion of the Jokeri orbital line (see below) into light rail.

History[edit]

Main page: User:JIP/History of the Helsinki tram

Planned extension of the network[edit]

Main page: User:JIP/Planned extension of the Helsinki tram

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos
  2. ^ a b Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos
  3. ^ "HKL Tram Traffic". SRS. Retrieved 11 October 2010.
  4. ^ Raitio 4/2011
  5. ^ Stadin Ratikat
  6. ^ Helsinki Urban Traffic Control Centre
  7. ^ Finnish Tramway Society
  8. ^ Finnish Tramway Society
  9. ^ Finnish Tramway Society
  10. ^ www.kaupunkiliikenne.net
  11. ^ a b Finnish Tramway Society
  12. ^ Helsingin Sanomat
  13. ^ Helsingin Kaupunki: Kaupunkisuunnitteluvirasto
  14. ^ Helsingin Kaupunki: Kaupunkisuunnitteluvirasto
  15. ^ Vartti.fi
  16. ^ Mirva Haltia-Holmberg
  17. ^ a b Helsingin kaupungin liikennelaitos Cite error: The named reference "HKL 2010-12-02" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  18. ^ Transtech Oy
  19. ^ Antero Alku

Bibliography[edit]

Helsinki City Transport

Finnish Tramway Society

Helsingin Sanomat

Miscellaneous

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trams in Helsinki.


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