Helsinki opens Crown Bridges tram to Laajasalo over 1.2 km bridge

Helsinki's new Crown Bridges tramway opened on Saturday 7 November, linking the island suburb of Laajasalo to the city centre across three new bridges. Trams 11 and 12 now use Kruunuvuorensilta, at 1.2 km the longest bridge in Finland, according to the City of Helsinki.

The first service crossed the bridge at 10:00 after an opening event at Korkeasaari, the zoo island, the City of Helsinki said. The city presents it as "the world's most beautiful tram route". Mayor Daniel Sazonov spoke at the launch, and HSL Executive Director Vesa Silfver waved off the first tram with a Kruunuvuorenranta resident.

The two new routes split the work. Tram 12 runs from Yliskylä, in Laajasalo, to Railway Square in the centre, in about 20 minutes. Tram 11 links Kruunuvuorenranta and Korkeasaari with the Kalasatama and Pasila hubs. Between Sompasaari and Pasila it shares the route of tram 13, so that stretch now gets more frequent trams.

The bridge changes the geography of the eastern waterfront. According to the Crown Bridges project, the shortest route from Kruunuvuorenranta to Helsinki Central Station falls from 11 km to 5.5 km. Kruunuvuorensilta carries trams, cyclists and pedestrians only. Emergency vehicles are the only road traffic allowed, and cyclists and walkers have used it since April 2026.

The light rail and its new bridges have a maximum price of €326m, at December 2020 prices. YIT Infra and Kreate hold the contract for the Finkensilta and Kruunuvuorensilta bridges and the Korkeasaari earthworks. The rest of the line, including a new Hakaniemi bridge, was built under an alliance. Its members are the City of Helsinki, Metropolitan Area Transport Ltd, YIT, NRC Group Finland, Ramboll, Sweco and Sitowise. HSL's Director of Transport Services, Johanna Wallin, said the project "was completed ahead of schedule": the project site had given early 2027 as the latest start date.

The case for a tram rather than a bus comes down to capacity on a corridor with no road link. A dedicated bridge with no car traffic gives the trams a protected path over the water, which keeps journey times stable. The test now is what happens at the city end, where trams 11 and 12 join streets already used by other routes. Neither the city nor HSL has published frequencies for the new lines, so the real gain in capacity will only show in the timetable.

Buses in Laajasalo will be reorganised around the tram on 7 January 2027, when several routes are withdrawn, according to HSL. The extension from Hakaniemi towards the city centre and West Harbour has not yet been decided. For another Nordic rail project, see our report on Sweden's Norrbotniabanan.

Sources: City of Helsinki, "Tram services on Kruunusillat to begin on 7 November" (26 October 2026, updated 28 October 2026); City of Helsinki, "Tram services to Laajasalo to begin on 7 November" (31 August 2026, updated 15 September 2026); Crown Bridges project, "About the project" (consulted 10 November 2026); HSL, "Kruunusillat – new tramway to Laajasalo" (consulted 10 November 2026).

Photo: a test tram and cyclists on Kruunuvuorensilta, June 2026 — Kotivalo, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Article written with the help of artificial intelligence from the sources cited, reviewed by the TrainsNews editorial team before publication.