Infrastructure designers specializing in roads and railways from Sitowise visited Latvia for a knowledge exchange, including a tour of the Rail Baltica station construction site at Riga Airport (RIX). Prior to inspecting the ongoing work, the Finnish designers met with Arnolds Timofejevs, Project Manager for Rail Baltica at Riga Airport, representing the national implementation body, Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas, along with Linda Pastare, Public Relations and Stakeholders Manager. Timofejevs provided an in-depth briefing on the project’s current phase, focusing on the technical and design details, and explained how the forthcoming Rail Baltica station and railway align with the airport’s broader development plans. Pastare further outlined the overall scope of the Rail Baltica project in Latvia.
The representatives of the Finnish delegation were particularly interested in the technical solutions at the Riga Airport project, appreciating the architectural solution of the future station, which is inspired by Latvia’s close connection to nature and the Baltic Sea surrounded by forests. Importantly, the station also represents the high architectural quality standards and style of the Rail Baltica project, emphasizing the environmental aspects of the project, including a green approach to solutions that highlight sustainable development. As residents of the Baltic region, the Sitowise representatives found the use of wood in the future station’s design to be a positive element, as the station will reflect Latvia’s wooden architectural traditions, with wood being the dominant facade element. Wooden elements will also be used on the upper floor of the building – at the passenger platform level – where the train will stop. It was appreciated that the infrastructure of the future station fits design-wise into the airport’s development plans.
The construction of the Rail Baltica station and related infrastructure is based on the project of the open international competition winner – the joint venture of companies from three countries: PROSIV, consisting of Sintagma (Italy), Prodex (Slovakia), and Vektors T (Latvia).
The guests observed the construction progress at the site under the guidance of Aleksejs Tokarevs, the construction work manager from the project’s builder, B.S.L. Infra, who provided a more detailed introduction to the construction process and the technologies used in the building.