Major overhaul at Tampere marshalling yard to close tracks on three weekends and trigger night work
Major renewal work at Tampere's marshalling yard will lead to three full-weekend track closures (2–3 May, 9–10 May, 6–7 June) and a partial closure from 3 May–7 June; residents should expect loud night work, timetable changes and a temporary street closure.
Kreate Oy and the agency responsible for the Tampere marshalling yard said in a joint press release to ePressi that major renewal works at the Tampere marshalling yard will take place this spring and summer, including three full-weekend rail closures on 2–3 May, 9–10 May and 6–7 June and a five-week partial closure from 3 May to 7 June.
The project covers replacement of the track substructure and superstructure, swapping several switches, and reorganising switch layouts to increase yard capacity. Upgrades to the overhead electrification and safety systems are planned, and a new intermediate platform will be built at Tampere railway station. Project manager Jetro Matilainen said most of the track work will be carried out this year, with the three total weekend closures and a five-week period in which only some tracks are out of use.
Work concentrated south of Erkkilä bridge and between the bridge and the station will require continuous activity under the bridge during parts of spring. On the weekends of 2–3 May and 9–10 May crews will dismantle a steel work scaffold under the bridge and remove a support wall around an intermediate support; officials warn this will cause particularly loud night-time noise in nearby areas. Because the scaffold crosses Ratapihankatu, that street will be closed between the Naistenlahti junction and Väinölänkatu from Saturday 2 May at 20:00 until no later than Monday 4 May at 06:00.
Passengers should expect timetable changes and replacements during the closures. Some daytime weekend trains will be replaced by buses on routes between Tampere and Parkano, Tampere and Pori, Tampere and Seinäjoki, the Tampere–Jyväskylä–Pieksämäki corridor and Tampere–Kuopio, and night services will also see adjustments and cancellations. Detailed timetables and rail replacement bus departure points are published by VR.
The agency and contractor Kreate Oy say noisy night work will be carried out in addition to daytime operations, and residents in the affected area will receive separate notifications about night work schedules. Dust will be mitigated by wetting work areas. Track work will continue through the summer and into autumn, but later tasks are smaller in scale and should not affect train traffic to the same extent, site manager Jari Hinttala of Kreate Oy said.
Catch the full story over at ePressi
