Asematunneli ( sv, Stationstunneln) is an underground

shopping center A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof. The first known collec ...

connecting the

Helsinki Central railway station Helsinki Central Station ( fi, Helsingin päärautatieasema, sv, Helsingfors centralstation) ( HEC) is the main station for commuter rail and long-distance trains departing from Helsinki, Finland. The station is used by approximately 400,000 peo ...

and

City-Center The City-Center was a plan to raze and rebuild the block between the central Helsinki streets of Kaivokatu, Keskuskatu and Aleksanterinkatu, creating a unified, modern appearance for the area. The plan was originally drafted between 1958 and ...

in downtown

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bot ...

. The area also has a ticket sales area for the Rautatientori metro station and connections to the nearby Forum shopping mall as well as

Stockmann Stockmann plc is a Finnish retailer established in 1862. Stockmann's eight company-owned department stores are in Finland (six), Estonia (one), and Latvia (one). There also was an additional nine Stockmann-branded department stores in Russia o ...

and

Sokos Sokos is a chain of department stores in Finland that is part of the S Group, which also operates the hotel chain, Sokos Hotels. Department stores * Helsinki (centre) * Helsinki ( Kaari) * Hämeenlinna * Joensuu * Jyväskylä * Kajaani * Ko ...

department stores. The shops and supermarkets in Asematunneli are licensed to stay open longer than normal as well as during the national holidays, making the shopping center an important location for last minute and emergency shopping for the people of the greater Helsinki area.

Kamppi Center Kamppi Centre ( fi, Kampin keskus, sv, Kampens centrum) is a complex in the Kamppi district in the centre of Helsinki, Finland, designed by various architects, the main designer, however, being Juhani Pallasmaa. It is said to be Helsinki's new ...

and the bottom floor of

Sähkötalo Sähkötalo (lit. ''Electricity Building'') ( sv, Elhuset) is the name of the building located in the Kamppi district of central Helsinki, which serves as the headquarters of HELEN, the municipal energy company of the city of Helsinki. The buildi ...

across

Fredrikinkatu Fredrikinkatu ( sv, Fredriksgatan, Helsinki slang: ''Freda'') is a street in Helsinki, Finland that starts from Viiskulma in the district of Punavuori and continues north by the western side of Kamppi Center until it reaches Lutherinkatu and the T ...

can also be accessed via tunnels by going through the Forum shopping mall first. The interconnecting areas provide for convenient movement across a wide area of central Helsinki, and allow pedestrians to escape the rain, snow, and cold weather that dominate much of the Finnish calendar. Asematunneli was built by digging up Kaivokatu and pouring concrete canopies for the tunnels in 1966–1967.

Gallery

File:Asematunneli Helsinki.jpg, The view eastwards from the metro station. File:Asematunneli Helsinki2.jpg, The eastern connecting point, from which the tram stops can be accessed. File:Helsinki Asematunneli 1967'.jpg, Construction of Asematunneli in front of Helsinki Central railway station in 1967.

External links

* Buildings and structures in Helsinki Kluuvi {{Finland-struct-stub