Eighty replacement buses will serve commuters as the Helsinki metro shuts down over the weekend for maintenance work to its inter-locking system. As a result, the metro won’t be operating during the weekend from Lauttasaari to the east.
On Friday at 6pm the metro will stop running between Itäkeskus, Mellunmäki and Vuosaari stations. On Saturday and Sunday, the metro running east from Lauttasaari will be closed for upgrades.
Replacement buses and trams ready
”The capacity is not quite on par with the metro, but the break is over the weekend when people likely have more choice regarding which form of transit they use and the route they take,” says Petri Nissinen, public transport planner for the Helsinki Regional Transit Authority (HSL).
The replacement buses will operate, depending on the time of day, every 5 to 10 minutes. Tickets for buses as well as trams should be purchased in advance.
Back to normal on Monday
The metro will operate normally again on Monday, 14 January.
On Friday night the stretch from Itäkeskus to Mellunmäki metro station will be operated by bus 99MX and from Itäkeskus to Vuosaari station by bus 99VX, which will run from 5:30pm through midnight.
On Saturday and Sunday, three bus lines will replace the metro: 99B, 99M, and 99V. The buses will stop at specially marked stops.
In the city centre, tram 11 will replace the metro, running from Salmisaari to Paavalinkirkko church, serving all tram stops along the route.
All of the replacement services schedules are available in the HSL journey planner.
New safety device will decrease traffic disturbances
The new route management system tracks the location of metro trains.
”Passengers will be able to receive more accurate real-time information about metro trains and their exact location,” says Artturi Lähdetie, a director at Helsinki City Transport.