To speed up the construction of the European-gauge railway Rail Baltica route from Jiesia (Kaunas) to the Polish border, 154 plots of land and the objects present on them, such as engineering networks and structures, are planned to be purchased from private owners as soon as possible, i.e., prior to the approval of the special plan and start of the procedure for taking them over for public needs. This was approved by the Government at the meeting that took place this Wednesday.
“The progress of the implementation of the Rail Baltica project is a task of strategic importance for Lithuania and the Baltic region. One of the ways to accelerate the construction of the European-gauge railway track is to immediately buy out specific plots of land and start the design and construction of already identified railway infrastructure facilities and bridges towards the Polish border. This is particularly important in order to connect the Baltic countries with the common European-gauge railway network as soon as possible, as well as for the purposes of military mobility,” said Marius Skuodis, Minister of Transport and Communications.
At the moment, the specific territories required for the modernisation of the Polish-Lithuanian border-Jiesia (Kaunas) railway line of the Rail Baltica project have already been identified, and 14 certain “point” infrastructure objects (vehicle overpasses and animal crossings over the railway track) have been planned, which would be built during the modernisation of this railway line.
It is planned to purchase 154 plots of land or their parts, the total area of which is approximately 130 hectares, into the ownership of the state. The plots of land would be purchased based on the market value after individual valuation.
“The scope of the project towards the Polish border is very large. Therefore, such a project implementation tactic, when specific infrastructure objects are built first, and the railway line is built only later, will not only speed up the project implementation but will also be useful for both market participants and people living near the future objects of infrastructure. The latter will have the opportunity to start using the newly built infrastructure earlier. Meanwhile, dividing the project into smaller parts will lead to a larger number of purchases. Thus, more market participants will be able to participate in procurements by submitting proposals for design and contracting services”, noted Dovydas Palaima, General Manager of LTG Infra AB Rail Baltica Management.
According to the preliminary calculations of LTG Infra AB, after evaluating the total area of the identified plots of land, their purchase costs would amount to about 2.6 million euros.
It is planned that the special plan for the modernisation of the Rail Baltica railway line between the Polish-Lithuanian border and Jiesia (Kaunas) will be prepared and submitted to the Government for approval at the end of 2023.
Frequently asked questions about the Rail Baltica project (land acquisition processes and compensations) are available here (in Lithuanian).
Rail Baltica is the largest railway infrastructure project in the history of the Baltic States, which will build a fully electrified double-track European gauge railway connecting Warsaw, Kaunas, Vilnius, Panevėžys, Riga, Pärnu and Tallinn. The total length of Rail Baltica in the Baltic States is 870 km, with 392 km in Lithuania, 265 km in Latvia and 213 km in Estonia.