Technical malfunction halts metro services at Helsinki Central Railway Station

A technical malfunction in the new fire doors at the Helsinki Central Railway Station prevented metro services from operating on Wednesday afternoon. The issue with the doors, which close off the rail tunnel, began shortly before 2 PM, according to Helsinki Regional Transport. The underlying cause has been identified as a human installation error. The safety system operated as intended, which meant that it halted traffic on the metro line.

Juhana Hietaranta, Safety Manager at the Helsinki Regional Transport, explained that the installation error led the safety system to misinterpret the state of the door, believing it was closed even though it was actually open. Fortunately, this situation did not pose any danger to passengers.

According to HSL Communications, metro services were unable to pass through the station for approximately 15 minutes due to the issue. During this time, westbound trains turned around at Ruoholahti, while eastbound trains stopped at the University of Helsinki. Service has since returned to normal, albeit with a slight delay. The news was first reported by Helsingin Sanomat.