Helsinki’s tram network crossed the sea on Saturday November 7 2026. Two new lines, 11 from Pasila to Kruunuvuorenranta and 12 from Railway Square to Yliskylä, began running over the Crown Bridges to Laajasalo, the city’s largest island.
The link is a chain of three bridges built for trams, bikes and people on foot, with no cars. The longest, Kruunuvuorensilta, is about 1,200 metres and the longest bridge in Finland. The route passes Korkeasaari, the island that holds Helsinki Zoo, on the way.
The payoff is distance. By road, Kruunuvuorenranta sat about 11 kilometres from the centre. Over the bridges it is about 5.5, and the tram does the trip in around 20 minutes. Walkers and cyclists have had the bridges since April, when the last of the three opened to them.
The trams also came early. Helsinki’s transport authority, HSL, was still planning in January for service to start in early 2027. The city says Laajasalo’s population is expected to double by 2040, which is the real reason a council first backed the bridge plan back in 2008.
For a capital that picked a tramway over a metro extension, the opening is a bet that a slow, visible tram on a sea bridge will shape where people choose to live for decades.