New opportunities along the Jokeri Light Rail line
Jokeri Light Rail line will be built between Itäkeskus in Helsinki and Keilaniemi in Espoo.
The final terminus of the light rail line will be sited adjacent to the metro station in Keilaniemi, Espoo. Jokeri Light Rail will make Aalto University and the Otaniemi Science Park easier to reach. It will replace trunk bus line 550, which is the busiest bus line in the Helsinki region. The Jokeri Light Rail will start operating, at the latest, in early 2024, but preparations are being made as part of the construction project and in terms of tram deliveries and driver training to enable an earlier start in the autumn of 2023. It is expected that the decision on the start of operation will be made during the summer 2023.
Illustration of Raide-Jokeri, Leppävaara's station.Photo: Raide-Jokeri
The Jokeri Light Rail line is expected to have significant positive effects on Espoo’s urban development and vitality. New housing and workplaces are planned to be built along the Jokeri Light Rail line. The new light rail line will enable new housing for 22,000 Espoo residents as well as 20,000 new jobs.
The Jokeri light rail line will interlink Espoo’s most significant high-technology employment areas: Keilaniemi, Otaniemi and Leppävaara. It will also connect the West Metro line and the train tracks at Leppävaara, Espoo’s main railway station, into a combined system. You can travel by rail from the Jokeri Light Rail terminus in Keilaniemi all the way to the airport. You can also transfer between the metro and the light rail line in Otaniemi.
Jokeri Light Rail has boosted the revamping of Otaniemi and Keilaniemi, which are growing towards each other. Important to the competitiveness of not only Espoo but also the whole of Finland, the area houses several head offices of large listed companies as well as the internationally renowned scientific and research community of the Aalto University campus. Keilaniemi is turning into a unique seaside centre with its residential, office and hotel towers.
Jokeri Light Rail has also accelerated the construction of entirely new areas. Espoo’s all-time record in new construction projects was broken in Vermonniitty in the Leppävaara area in 2018. The new residential area of Vermonniitty is built along the Jokeri Light Rail line.
The light rail increases the appeal of the areas as locations for housing and business and makes it possible to make the urban structure denser along sustainable transport connections. Jokeri Light Rail will realise the strategic goal of Espoo regarding the network city and carbon-neutrality.
Construction of the light rail has started in June 2019 at several sites in both Helsinki and Espoo.
