A contract was recently signed for the construction of the first section of Rail Baltica, the largest rail project in Baltic Countries in over 100 years. The contract was signed between Rail Baltic Estonia, AS TREV-2 Grupp and AllSpark OÜ.b.
Rail Baltica is the company in charge of the implementation of the rail project while TREV-2 Grupp is a local company focused on the construction and maintenance of infrastructure objects, structures and civil engineering works. AllSpark on the other hand is an infrastructure engineering and technology company offering full services throughout the life cycle of services in the field of infrastructure technology.
Speaking on this milestone, Anvar Salomets said, “With these signatures, we can confidently say that have reached the point that marks the beginning of the mainline construction.” Salomets is the Chief Executive Officer of Rail Baltic Estonia.
Sven Pertens, Chief Executive Officer of TREV-2 Grupp on the other hand said “I am pleased to sign the first Rail Baltica mainline construction contract in Estonia. We believe that this will not be the only one.”
Scope of the contract
The contract in question covers the construction of approximately 4.8 kilometres long mainline. The line starts from the east side of Ülemiste station to the intersection with Lagedi Road in Soodevahes, Rae Parish. The width of the line will be between 14 and 20 meters.
Additionally, the contract covers partial construction of an embankment for the Ülemiste station rail yard as well as the railway section of a prospective car loading station.
Furthermore, the contract covers the establishment of the necessary drainage, cable ducts, land reclamation systems and retaining walls. Various utility networks will also be established and a culvert built to facilitate the passage of small animals.
The contract for the construction of the 1st section of Rail Baltica is valued at 34,176,386 euros. 85% of the project is funded by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility.
Construction works are expected to commence this spring and be completed by mid-2027.
Other contracts concerning Rail Baltica
A few days after signing the contract for the construction of the 1st section of Rail Baltica, Rail Baltica released more contract tenders. Under these tenders, the company invited other companies to carry out the construction of the underlying infrastructure intersections for 52.6 kilometres of the Estonian mainline.
These tender contracts feature the construction of a total of five mainline sections in Harju and Rapla counties. The sections in question are Soodevahe to Kangru, Kangru to Saku, Saku to Harju/Rapla county border, Hagudi to Alu and Alu to Kärpla.
The estimated total cost of the published tenders is approximately €400M, the equivalent of US$ 438M. The contracts are expected to be executed within a span of between 40 and 48 months starting from Q2 2024.
Rail Baltica Mainline, priority project
According to Salomets, the construction of the Rail Baltica mainline is undoubtedly a priority for the company in 2024 and the following years.
“Our goal is to see active railway infrastructure construction on more than a 1/3 of the Estonian part of Rail Baltica one year from now. This will enable us to stay on schedule for operation in 2030,” said the Chief Executive Officer of Rail Baltic Estonia.
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