Metro services in Western Espoo are still experiencing disruptions after a rare and intense lightning strike damaged key parts of the train control system. Commuters using the Helsinki Region Transport network have been impacted since Sunday evening, when the thunderstorm caused severe technical issues between the Kivenlahti and Soukka metro stations.
Metro stations in Kivenlahti, Espoonlahti, and Soukka remain closed. According to Helsinki Region Transport (HSL), metro trains are only operating up to Kaitaa station for now. The rest of the line is being covered by replacement buses 544 and 510. HSL is also encouraging passengers to use its route planner to find alternate transport options.
The problem began when lightning hit infrastructure between Kivenlahti and Soukka, damaging a system called interlocking. This system controls how trains move safely on the tracks. Repairs are already underway, but the damage turned out to be more serious than first expected.
Juhana Hietaranta, who is the safety director for Helsinki City Transport, explained that the lightning caused damage across a wide area.
“When electricity from a strike flows into the wrong parts of the system, things break,” he said. “This is not something we see often.”
Most storms only cause small issues that can be fixed quickly, but this one was different. The damaged equipment includes both trackside systems and internal control rooms. Engineers are now trying to bring at least one section of the track back into service so that trains can reach Kivenlahti again.
Hietaranta mentioned that there is still no exact time for when the repairs will be finished. HSL originally thought everything would be fixed by Sunday night, but it now looks like some service may return by late Monday. If all goes well, full service could resume on Tuesday.
After the repairs, experts will review what happened to see if this kind of failure can be prevented in the future. While safety measures are already in place, metro systems rely on sensitive electronics that do not always handle extreme weather well.
Although weather-related issues are not new in public transport, this kind of widespread failure is unusual. The intensity of the storm and the specific systems that were affected have made this repair more complex than usual.
Passengers are still advised to use other transport methods and keep checking for updates. HSL recommends turning off the metro option in the route planner to find more reliable options during this period.
