Rail Baltica Joint Venture is starting the second stage of the procurement of the design and design supervision services for the Rail Baltica section Upeslejas–Riga–Misa in Latvia.
This Rail Baltica main line section is 56 kilometres long, involves five municipalities and consists of three subsections: Upeslejas–Riga Central Station, Torņakalns–Imanta and Riga Airport–Misa River. It is one of the most complex sections since it crosses densely populated urban areas and includes the only Rail Baltica tunnel on the whole Rail Baltica route. In addition, it is interlinking the Rail Baltica International Passenger Stations in the Riga Central Station and the International Airport “Riga”.
The tender proposal submission deadline have been extended from 5 February to the 15 March 2019. The contract is for the delivery of 24 month of design services and design supervision services during the construction of the railway. Contractor will develop a master design, value engineering studies, spatial planning solutions and detailed technical design. In addition, the contract includes provision of the design author’s supervision during the construction phase of the line.
“Since Rail Baltica is the key missing link of the Trans-European Transport network, I carefully follow its progress. Design of the Upeslejas–Riga–Misa section is a natural continuation of the earlier signed detailed technical design of Riga International Airport RB passenger station civil structures and junction contract as well as the ongoing procurement for the detailed technical design and construction of the Riga Central Station junction. Moreover, in the nearest future we plan to sign our first construction contract. I am pleased to see that Rail Baltica project remains in spotlights of the international community as so many foreign companies have expressed their willingness to bid for Rail Baltica tenders. And our, Latvian, enterprises go with them,” comments Kaspars Ozoliņš, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport of Latvia.
“Design of the Rail Baltica line through Riga is a technically challenging task and we are pleased to see strong and experienced competitors taking part in the tender,” says Ignas Degutis, RB Rail AS acting CEO. “Our plan is to ensure that Rail Baltica line will be sustainably integrated in the environment of the Latvian capital and the neighbouring municipalities on the route. The selected designer will play the key role in defining technical solutions in cooperation with a wide range of stakeholders, while also providing solutions to address the expectations of the surrounding communities, such as visual integration of the railway in the landscape as well as tackling noise pollution.”
According to the preliminary plans, 12 road viaducts, 16 rail viaducts, 13 segregated pedestrian crossings, 5 bridges, the second part of the railway overpass in Riga Airport as well as a cut and cover tunnel need to be designed for this Rail Baltica section.
Six tenderers with extensive international knowledge and experience were preselected earlier in 2018 to take part in the second stage of the tender:
- Group of suppliers “ACG3I-AMBERG-CONSULTRANS-GEG-GREISCH-GRID-INZENIERBUVE” (Amberg Engineering AG; Amberg Technologies AG; CONSULTRANS S.A.U.; GEG Gabinete de Estruturas e Geotecnia Lda; GREISCH Ingénierie S.A.; GRID Consultas Estudos e Projectos de Engenharia S.A.; GRID International Consulting S.A.; INZENIERBUVE LLC).
- Group of suppliers “IDOM-INECO” (IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture, S.A.U.; Ingeniería y Economía del Transporte SME MP S.A. (INECO)).
- Group of suppliers “OBERMEYER Planen + Beraten GmbH”.
- Group of suppliers “Consortium TYPSA – SETEC – TUC RAIL – REM PRO” (Setec International; Técnica y Proyectos S.A. (TYPSA); TUC RAIL S.A.; REM PRO SIA).
- Group of suppliers “SYSTRA/COWI Mainline through Riga JV” (SYSTRA SA; COWI A/S).
- Group of suppliers “AIA Latvia Mainline Riga” (Aecom Inocsa S.L.U.; Italferr S.p.A).
The entire Rail Baltica line is divided in 11 sections to be contracted separately for the provision of detailed technical design. By now, the procurement is underway for 6 out of 11 sections. It is expected that the detailed technical design for the entire line will be procured by the end of 2021.