News

On 24 October in Strasbourg Catherine Trautmann, EU Coordinator of the North-Sea Baltic TEN-T Corridor together with Rail Baltica representatives Ignas Degutis, acting CEO of the Rail Baltica Joint Venture, Ahti Kuningas, Deputy State Secretary of the Transport at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication of Estonian, Dins Merirands, Deputy State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport of Latvia and Ričardas Degutis, Vice-Minister of Transport and Communications of Lithuania, Mr Andrzej Bittel, Undersecretary of State, Ministry of Infrastructure and Construction of Poland, Mr Tomasz Lachowicz, Director, Representative Office of PKP S.A. in Belgium, Mr Jakub Kapturzak, Ministry of Infrastructure and Construction of Poland addressed the “Friends of Rail Baltica” group established by members of the European Parliament.

On 18 October, the Joint Venture of Rail Baltica hosted a meeting with the companies which were qualified to participate in the tender for design and design supervision services on the sections of the railway in Estonia from Pärnu to Rapla (section length: 71 km) and in Lithuania from Kaunas to Ramygala (section length: 78 km). In total six international companies per country have qualified in this competition, and they are expected to submit the proposals by 27 November.

On 15 October the Rail Baltica Task Force met in Vilnius on technical level with experts from the three Baltic states, Finland, Poland and representatives from the European Commission, INEA and the Rail Baltica Joint Venture to align on further progress of the Global Project.

On October 18, a business meeting, dedicated to the infrastructure investment opportunities between China and Latvia, was held in Riga. It gathered representatives from the transport industry in Latvia as well as companies from China. The meeting, organized by KPMG, provide an insight into both markets and a platform to discuss potential cooperation opportunities.

On 11th October 2018, seminar “Rail Baltica as Innovation Platform” took place in Tallinn as part of the event series organized by Rail Baltica Business Network. The main objective of the seminar was to bring together specialists and stakeholders from different sectors to discuss future opportunities for Rail Baltica. Opening words were delivered by Kadri Simson, Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure, who emphasized that Rail Baltica is an opportunity for innovation not only through developing technical and digital solutions but also by expanding business models and providing new intermodal ways of travelling.

On October 10, 2018, Ignas Degutis, RB Rail AS acting CEO hosted a meeting with ambassadors and diplomats from the countries representing the European Economic Area, with an aim to share updates about developments in the Rail Baltica Global Project.

Yesterday, October 9, Rail Baltica Joint Venture hosted a meeting with representatives of the national audit institutions on the Baltic states to commence a functional audit on the management of the internal systems, procurement processes and financing of the Rail Baltica project. The audit will be conducted jointly by the National Audit Office of Estonia, State Audit Office of Latvia and National Audit Office of Lithuania.

On September 27 Ignas Degutis was appointed as an acting CEO and Chair of the Management Board of the Rail Baltica joint venture. Degutis has been with the company for over a year, serving as a Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Management Board under the CEO Baiba Rubesa, who submitted her resignation on September 27. Degutis will continue also with his duties as Chief Financial Officer. The rest of the Management Board remains in the previous composition, consisting of Mart Nielsen, Chief Technical Officer and Kaspars Rokens, Chief Operations Officer.  

Joint Venture has grown from a start-up sized organisation to a professional team of over 50 members of staff, who is steering the Rail Baltica project through the planning and now the design phase”, says Catherine Trautmann, North-Sea Baltic TEN-T Corridor Coordinator. Full statement regarding the change of leadership at RB Rail available here.

On 27 September 2018, RB Rail AS Supervisory Board appointed Ignas Degutis, Chief Financial Officer and Member of the Management Board in the capacity of RB Rail AS Acting CEO.

RB Rail AS has announced two open competitions – “Quality Assessment Study on Usage of Local Mineral Materials for Rail Baltica Railway Project” and “Technical Study and Design Proposals for Rail Baltica Infrastructure Maintenance Facilities”.

On 12 September, a Rail Baltica Business Network event took place in Kaunas, with the participation of Catherine Trautmann, European Coordinator for the North Sea-Baltic core network corridor, Kaspars Briškens, Business Development Manager of RB Rail AS and Mindaugas Kvašys, Project Manager at Civitta as well as participants representing the local business community.

On 12 September, Kaspars Rokens, COO and Member of the Management Board of RB Rail AS, participated at the second Latvian Start-up Forum in Riga organized as part of Start-up day 2018. During the event, Rokens told more about the Rail Baltica Global Project and what are the opportunities for the start-ups and innovators to engage with the project, as well as discussed the role of start-up companies in the country’s development and innovation processes.  

On 5 September 2018, Ignas Degutis, CFO and the Member of the Management Board of RB Rail AS, took part in the Economic Forum in Krynica and a panel discussion devoted to the future of transport. Degutis pointed out that the development of the transport industry globally is shifting towards favoring the railway since it is significantly safer, greener, and cost efficient compared to other forms of transportation.

On August 23, 2018, Baiba Rubesa, the Chairperson and CEO of RB Rail AS, addressed the meeting of the Latvian Ports, Transit and Logistics Council, chaired by Māris Kučinskis, the Prime Minister of Latvia.