According to Risto Rautava of the Coalition, the new light rail project will be challenging and expensive. According to Anni Sinnemäki of the Greens, in addition to the costs, the income brought by the project should be considered.
Disagreements The project that sparked the West-Helsinki tramway, or the Vihdintie express tram, is moving forward, it was decided in the Helsinki City Environment Committee on Tuesday.
The coalition Risto Rautava and Otto Meri tried to put a brake on the project by suggesting that the trolleybus plan will be returned to preparation and brought to consideration only after more extensive experience with light rail roads has been gained.
Rautava and Meri also hoped that the scale of the project would have been limited to only the section of Huopalahdentie or Huopalahdentie and Vihdintie.
The vote on the issue was close. Seven voted in favor of continuing the processing of the trolleybus project. Six voted against continuing.
The representatives of the Greens, the Social Democrats and the Left were on the side of continuing, and the representatives of the coalition, the RKP and Basic Finns were against.
In addition, the deputy mayor Anni Sinnemäki (green) and deputy member of the board Olli-Pekka Koljonen (sd) made a counter-proposal, according to which actions are required in the further preparation to make the tram's travel times faster than estimated and reduce the costs of the project “without compromising quality”.
This proposal was unanimously accepted.
Sinnemäki was satisfied that the trolley project can proceed.
“This is an important project and part of the city strategy already decided by the council to move traffic onto the tracks. Now the practical construction planning can begin.”
According to him, in addition to the costs, it is good to think about the total benefit and income brought by the tramway.
“Ratika's strength compared to buses is its reliability. That's why we are also ready to invest more along the street, which will bring jobs and apartments there.”
On the other hand, Rautava of the Coalition was of the opinion that the project is becoming challenging.
“It will be quite challenging. The project will mess up Helsinki's already chaotic traffic for years.”
Rautava was also worried that the project would be expensive.
“It seems that the green left doesn't care about costs one bit.”
of West Helsinki The tramway is a new route from the core center to Kannelmäki, along which approximately 39,000 passengers per day are predicted in 2030.
In connection with the project, Huopalahdentie and Vihdintie will be converted into boulevard streets. Homes for 14,000 new residents should be built in this area.
Along with the expressway, new rail sections will be implemented to the western inner city on Fredrikinkatu and Topeliuskatu.
The coalition opposed the project, despite the fact that the more than 100 million euros of funding promised by the state to the trolley might expire due to the slowdown.
However, Rautava believes that the matter could be negotiated with the state.
“An extension of time would be possible.”
Read more: The major reform of the tramways in Western Helsinki is progressing – Councilors argued for a long time about the inflation of costs
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