In 2021 the Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS implemented a wide range of activities to further strengthen the governance, and work continued to further implement the RB Rail’s AS Corporate Strategy 2021 – 2026 by developing and approving the Company’s annual strategic goals aligned with strategic objectives.
Rail Baltica Global Project progress was further advanced by successful application for the next round of financing from the EU Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), and as a result additional 19.7 million EUR were secured from CEF and Baltic governments. Under the 2014 – 2020 EU Multiannual Financial Framework period, together with the newly signed agreement, the three Baltic states and RB Rail AS have signed seven grants under the CEF instrument for the construction of the Rail Baltica conventional railway infrastructure. Together with the previously signed grant agreements, Rail Baltica has thereby already secured around 1.2 billion EUR from the EU and national funds.
Several important milestones were reached: delivery of the already ongoing activities has been continuously prioritized, in particular the designs of the mainline, which are progressing on more than 640 km of the total 870 km line, and the first phase of construction works started in all Baltic countries, numerous consolidated procurements for the construction materials were launched, including the launch of the procurement of large-scale mainline construction in Latvia.
Also, in 2021 RB Rail AS selected an engineering service provider (ENE Engineer) for the Rail Baltica energy subsystem deployment to start the work by performing several technical and economic studies necessary to prepare for the procurement of the electrification design and build tender. In addition, together with the national project implementors SIA Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas, Rail Baltic Estonia OÜ, and AB LTG Infra contracts were signed with Certifier SA as the single safety assessment services provider (AsBo) for the entire Rail Baltica line, throughout the design, construction, and integration phases of the Global project. At the end of 2021 final preparations were made to ensure contract signing for the Rail Baltica Control-Command and Signalling Engineering and Works Supervision and was signed at the beginning of 2022. Finally, in 2021 work on several significant studies were conducted and work on the next generation Cost-Benefit Analysis and Business Plan for the Rail Baltica was started by launching a public procurement procedure.
On the project planning and development side 2022 goal is to significantly progress and start completing the mainline designs as per the priority section program, further advance with the development of the railway Energy subsystem and Control Command and Signalling subsystems, successfully launch and/or complete consolidated construction material procurements as well as to launch the procurements for the design of two remaining mainline sections Kaunas – Vilnius, and Kaunas – Lithuania/Poland border, construction procurement of the first cross border section between Latvia and Lithuania, and progress with large-scale construction works both on the mainline as well as local facilities, such as stations.
Considering that in January 2022 Rail Baltica global project implementors applied for the 2021 CEF call of the proposal and more such calls are expected in the coming years, the joint venture in 2022 intends to continue strengthening the finance competence and increase its focus on transparent, result-driven, and efficient treatment of public funds across the whole project in the period of large-scale constructions reaching full maturity by 2024.
Building on the strategic Global Project studies started in 2021, RB Rail AS plans to facilitate discussion amongst the decision-makers on policy areas where the action is required to use the full potential of Rail Baltica as a new economic corridor.
Full RB Rail AS Annual Report 2021 can be found here.