There are also major changes to tram and Metro services in summer 2024. Read more about the changes here.
Track work related to the Espoo City Rail Link project of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency cause disruptions to train services on the Coastal Line in spring, summer, and autumn this year. In the autumn, there will be short disruptions of one or two days to the Coastal Line train services. In the summer, train services on the line were disrupted for five weeks, and in the spring, there were one-day service disruptions on weekends.
During the disruptions, there will be no train services from Leppävaara towards Kauklahti, Kirkkonummi and Siuntio. E, U, L and Y trains will not run. Westbound train services from Leppävaara will be replaced by buses. The disruptions will also affect long-distance train services on the Coastal Line. The timetables and routes of train replacement buses are available in the Journey Planner.
The Espoo City Rail Link project of the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency entails the construction of two new tracks between Leppävaara and Kauklahti. The work will continue in the coming years. As a result, train services will in the future run every 10 minutes from Helsinki to Kauklahti instead of Leppävaara, as currently.
The service disruptions will take place as follows:
- Disruptions in autumn 2024
- Saturday 31 August 3am – Monday 2 September 4am
- Saturday 7 September 3am – Monday 9 September 4am
- Saturday 14 September 3am – Monday 16 September 4am
- Sunday 22 September 3am – Monday 23 September 4am
- Sunday 29 September 3am – Monday 30 September 4am
Train services will be replaced by buses
During the service disruptions, train services from Leppävaara in the direction of Kauklahti, Kirkkonummi and Siuntio will be replaced by buses. The replacement buses take passengers to train stations or nearby.
Replacement buses:
- 211E, Leppävaara–Kauniainen–Espoo–Kauklahti
- 211U, Leppävaara–Kauniainen–Espoo–Kauklahti–Kirkkonummi
- 211X, Leppävaara–Kauniainen–Espoo–Kauklahti–Kirkkonummi–Siuntio
- 213X, Elielinaukio–Turunväylä–Espoo
During the service disruptions, train services from Leppävaara in the direction of Kauklahti, Kirkkonummi and Siuntio will be replaced by buses. Bus 211E will run between Leppävaara and Kauklahti, bus 211U between Leppävaara and Kirkkonummi, and bus 211X between Leppävaara and Siuntio. Buses 211E, 211U and 211X will stop at all intermediate stations or near the stations. Bus 213X will provide a fast connection along Turunväylä between Helsinki, Koivuhovi, Tuomarila and Espoon keskus. During the service disruption, tickets for zone B will be exceptionally accepted on journeys from the “Ullanmäki” stop on replacement bus 213X. VR’s tickets are also accepted on the train replacement buses.
The journey times of rail replacement buses can be significantly longer than those of trains. In most cases, journey times by bus will be 10–20 minutes longer than by train, but on long journeys, the increase in journey times may be more than 30 minutes. The routes and intermediate times for buses 211E, 211U and 211X are available here
The timetables and routes of train replacement buses in the summer are available in the Journey Planner. The train replacement buses have open fare collection.
More frequent A train services between Helsinki and Leppävaara
A trains will run between Helsinki and Leppävaara during the service disruptions. The service frequency of A trains will be increased to every 10 minutes on weekdays 6am to 9.30pm, on Saturdays 9am to 9.30pm and on Sundays 10am to 9.30pm. At quiet times such as in the late evening, A trains will run every 20–30 minutes.
Other alternative transport links
During the service disruptions on the Coastal Line, other public transport services will run as normal. For example, the Metro provides an alternative transport link from Espoo to Helsinki. There are a number of bus routes providing frequent feeder services to the metro stations. However, it should be noted that Metro services between the Kamppi and University of Helsinki Metro Stations are disrupted until 2 September due to renovation work at the Central Railway Station.
Other transport links during the train service disruptions:
- Frequent bus services to Metro stations
- Buses 548 and 549 from Kauniainen to Tapiola
- Bus 118 from Espoon keskus and Tuomarila to Urheilupuisto and Tapiola
- Trunk bus route 530 from Espoon keskus via Finnoo to Matinkylä
- Buses 171, 173 and 173Z from Kirkkonummi to Matinkylä
- Buses 162 and 165 from Kauklahti via Saunalahti to Espoonlahti
- Trunk bus route 200 runs along Turuntie from Espoon keskus via Leppävaara to Helsinki city center
The project aims to improve the performance of train services
The Espoo City Rail Link project entails the construction of two new tracks between Leppävaara and Kauklahti. Once completed, the rail link will improve the punctuality of commuter train services in Kirkkonummi and Espoo as well as the punctuality of long-distance train services in the direction of Turku. In addition, improvements will be made to the Kilo, Kera, Kauniainen, Koivuhovi, Tuomarila and Kauklahti train stations. The project started in spring 2021 and it is scheduled to be completed in 2028.