On 3 April, 2019, during the Rail Baltica Global Forum, the contract to commence the design services for the railway section from Kaunas to Ramygala in Lithuania was signed by the representatives of the Rail Baltica Joint Venture RB Rail AS and the Spanish company IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture.
The section Kaunas–Ramygala in Lithuania is estimated to be 78 km and is planned to include construction of seven road viaducts, 11 railway viaducts, three ecoducts and four railway bridges. This section also includes one of the most prominent constructions of the whole Rail Baltica railway line – the longest railway bridge in the Baltic States, which will provide 1.7 km long way over the river Neris. The total contract price is 6 979 893 EUR (excluding VAT).
The design services for the construction of the railway substructure, superstructure and related civil structures will be delivered by IDOM within the next 24 months. The contract also includes site investigations, value engineering, development of the master design and detailed technical design. Moreover, design supervision services also will be carried out during the construction period.
“Particular attention is given to the Rail Baltica Project. Progress of the implementation activities towards Latvia border once again endorse our commitment to implement the Rail Baltica project in time, effective and transparent use of allocated finances. There is a special plan for infrastructure development approved and land acquisition process for the main line will be finished soon – timely completion of the design activities will enable us to start construction activities in 2021,” the Minister of Transport and Communications Rokas Masiulis said.
“In total we are planning to open design works in five more sections on the main line of Rail Baltica this year. The first contract was signed in Estonia on March 29 and two more contracts in Latvia will follow in May,” says Timo Riihimäki, RB Rail AS CEO. “We are satisfied with the experience and calibre of the selected company. It will bring the expertise from the Spanish high-speed rail, which is the longest high-speed rail network in Europe.”
“It is an honor to win the design tender of Rail Baltica and we are very proud to be part of this challenge,” adds Alvaro Rey, CEO of IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture. “Our team is eager to share our deep knowledge and experience in the rail sector as there is no doubt that the combination of global and local expertise and knowledge is the key to success.”
In total, 7 out of 11 procurement procedures of the detailed technical design services for the main line of Rail Baltica have been launched, covering 57% of the entire length of the line. For Estonia, the detailed technical design procurement procedures are underway for the entire line from the Latvian/Estonian border to Tallinn. In Latvia, two out of four designs have been launched around Riga (Central section) and the same for Lithuania – two sections out of four, spanning from Kaunas to the Lithuanian/Latvian border.