To launch the construction process of the Rail Baltica station and related infrastructure at the Riga International Airport, an opening ceremony and press conference will be held on 30 June 10:00 a.m. The event will be broadcasted live on the website Leta.lv and attended by Tālis Linkaits, the Minister of Transport of Latvia, Agnis Driksna, the Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the Management Board of Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS and Kaspars Vingris, the Chairman of the Management Board of SIA Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas. Also, the management of the construction consortium B.S.L. Infra, construction supervision representatives PA Prointec and SIA Forma 2, design authors and design author’s supervision company Prosiv representatives, as well as key cooperation partners will participate.
“Rail Baltica station at the Riga Airport will strengthen the role of the capital of Latvia as the Baltic and Nordic aviation centre. It will contribute considerably to improving the airport’s connectivity both with our neighbouring countries and within our country, as well as enable Riga Airport as a convenient, modern and multimodal transport and business centre,” comments Tālis Linkaits, the Minister of Transport in Latvia.
“Opening the new station construction works is a significant milestone that confirms the Rail Baltica progress and maturity across all three Baltic states. Already now we see that Rail Baltica international stations, including the one in Riga International Airport, create future value by promoting both the establishment of a convenient and multimodal public transport hub and laying a strong foundation for attracting new investments, forming new partnerships and creating new services,” explains Agnis Driksna, RB Rail AS Chief Executive Officer and Chairperson of the Management Board. “One of Rail Baltica regional stations and rolling stock depot are also planned in Jaunmārupe, Mārupe municipality, therefore, in order to fully use the opportunities provided by this project, it is vital to strengthen the already started cooperation at State level, with Mārupe municipality, the Airport and neighbour municipalities of Rīga and Olaine. Despite the difficult situation with the pandemic, we remain confident that in future the new Rail Baltica station will contribute to the development of Riga International Airport.”
Kaspars Vingris, SIA Eiropas dzelzceļa līnijas Chairman of The Management Board: “Regardless of the pandemic and challenging working conditions, we have managed to launch the construction works of the second largest Rail Baltica object in Latvia. The air and high-speed rail connection will provide new opportunities and seamless passenger and freight transportation experience in the Baltics. The implementation of Rail Baltica high-speed railway in Latvia firstly focuses on construction of the most complex objects so that at later stages we would not face construction delays of the Rail Baltica main line.”
Additional information:
The main tasks of the Rail Baltica international station and related infrastructure construction at the Riga International Station are assigned to the construction and quality control teams. The established structure will include administrative, technical, construction and BIM departments. It is planned that the construction team will consist of 65 leading specialists of the B.S.L. Infra, whereas during the busiest construction period, the facility will employ more than 300 workers at a time. The construction process will be led by Bernhard Buchner, member of association of persons and representative of Swietelsky AG.
The construction works will be performed in five stages – until December 2025. The first stage will include the construction of the Rail Baltica infrastructure from the existing railway station “Imanta” to the Riga International Airport as well as construction of the station terminal, which is planned to be completed by March / April in 2023. Construction works will be based on the project of the winner of the open international competition – PROSIV (Sintagma (Italy), Prodex (Slovakia) and Vektors T (Latvia)) – an association consisting of three companies from three different countries.
Construction works are planned to be carried out in stages to limit disturbances to the operation of the airport. Starting 15 June, the construction progress can be followed on website www.edzl.lv, whereas information about traffic changes and other practical information can be found both on www.edzl.lv and the Rail Baltica global project official website railbaltica.org.
Around 81-85% of the total eligible costs of the Rail Baltica project that is implemented by the three Baltic states, are provided by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) infrastructure financing instrument, whereas the remaining part – by the Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian State budgets.