With an aim to provide a comprehensive overview on the Rail Baltica global project progress, plans and latest significant developments, on 25 November a digital conference Rail Baltica Industry Day 2021 will be held and broadcasted online. The full program and registration are available on the event’s website forum.railbaltica.org/2021.
During the event, the Rail Baltica project implementers, representatives, as well as the key Baltic and international partners, will share their insights on the strategic directions for the further development of Rail Baltica, practical information on the upcoming procurements, project regulatory environment and applicable standards, update on the consolidated material procurement framework as well as on the railway’s electrification and control-command signaling sub-system development. In addition, discussions on building a new and well-functioning economic corridor will be held.
“In 2021 the implementation of Rail Baltica global project across the three Baltic countries has advanced significantly despite the different challenges and Covid-19 impact. While this has been a demanding year, especially given that the possibilities for traveling and meeting partners were still limited, we find it now especially important to ensure regular and comprehensive updates on the ongoing activities and further plans of the global project. On behalf of the project partners, I invite all our stakeholders, existing and future partners of Rail Baltica to join our event,” says Agnis Driksna, Chairman of the Management Board and CEO of RB Rail AS.
The opening of the event will focus on Rail Baltica implementation and the project’s progress, commitments, and the future outlook with introduction words given by the three Baltic transport ministers: Taavi Aas, Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications in Estonia, Tālis Linkaits, Minister of Transport in Latvia and Marius Skuodis, Minister of Transport and Communications in Lithuania, and the Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board Agnis Driksna. This will be followed by a discussion moderated by Catherine Trautman, the European Coordinator for the North Sea-Baltic TEN-T Corridor with Mr. Driksna, and the CEOs of Rail Baltica national implementing bodies from three Baltic countries Tõnu Grünberg (OU Rail Baltic Estonia), Kaspars Vingris (SIA Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas) and Karolis Sankovski (LTG Infra AB).
The event will continue with updates on delivery of railway system safety and interoperability, as well as on some key aspects for cross-border railway delivery by Marc-Philippe El Beze, Member of the Management Board and Chief Technical Officer and Mark S. Loader, Member of the Management Board and Chief Programme Management Officer at RB Rail AS. Thereafter, the project’s procurement experts Kristjan Piirsalu, Chief Procurement Officer, and the Procurement Managers Mārtiņš Blaus and Aiga Benfelde will provide practical tips for proposal submission and updates on the upcoming procurements. This will include an overview of the consolidated material procurements and logistics plans.
The afternoon session will focus on Rail Baltica railway electrification and control-command and signaling sub-system development, where the vision planned for Rail Baltica will be elaborated by Jean-Marc Bedmar, Head of Systems & Operations at RB Rail AS and Marc-Philippe El Beze, CTO at RB Rail AS.
In the concluding part of the Rail Baltica Industry Day, two comprehensive discussions will be held aimed at facilitating the delivery of Rail Baltica beyond the physical infrastructure. First will focus on the prerequisites to promote the development of the competitive market for future services and investment that maximizes traffic and wider socio-economic benefits, introduced by Kaspars Briškens, Head of Strategy and Business Development department at RB Rail AS, moderated by Catherine Trautman, the European Coordinator for the North-Sea Baltic TEN-T Corridor and with the panel representatives – Legal and Policy Officer at European Infrastructure Managers (EIM) Bente Yedema, Policy Adviser Infrastructure at CER-Community of European Railway and Infrastructure Companies Marina Potapidou, Secretary General, ALLRAIL Alliance of Passenger Rail New Entrants Nick Brooks, Coordinator Europe, UIC – the International Union of Railways Simon Fletcher, and Secretary General at ERFA-European Rail Freight Association Conor Feighan and Jānis Zvīgulis, Head of FICIL Transport and Infrastructure Issues work group.
The concluding discussion panel will focus on key aspects of delivering wider socio-economic benefits around the future Rail Baltica connectivity, inter alia, on how to promote wider industrial development, digital connectivity, and job creation, how to ensure universal accessibility of the Rail Baltica facilities and services, “Dig Once”, road, air and sea transport services integration, the European Green Deal. The keynote presentation will be delivered by Ramiro Alberto Ríos, Senior Transport Consultant at Ramboll, a company involved in several ongoing global project studies, and followed by a discussion lead by Kaspars Briškens, Head of Strategy and Business Development department RB Rail AS and Dr. Stefano Manzo, Transport Economist at RB Rail AS with the panelists representing private and public sector companies and organizations: Mārtiņš Staķis, Mayor of Riga city, Eero Pärgmäe, Chief Commercial Officer at Tallinn Airport, Heiki Lahtinen, Group Board Member ar Limowa Oy, Normunds Krūmiņš, Chairman of the Board at Latvian Logistics Association, as well as Veiko Haavapuu the Chief Finance Officer at RB Rail AS and Jurģis Briedis, Apeirons Organization of people with disabilities and their friends.
Throughout the day interactive discussions and questions and answers sessions will be organised providing partners direct engagement opportunities with the Rail Baltica project implementers and stakeholders.
Full agenda of the event is available on the official event’s website: forum.railbaltica.org/2021
The event will be broadcasted on the event’s website and Rail Baltica official Facebook page; nevertheless, all participants are kindly requested to register via the event’s dedicated webpage: https://forum.railbaltica.org/2021.