The largest Rail Baltica rolling stock depot in Estonia will be designed by OÜ Reaalprojekt and NORD PROJEKT AS. “By finding a designer of the rolling stock depot, we have now started the designing process of key objects of Rail Baltica in Estonia. The rolling stock depot, which will be built on the border of Rae municipality, will become a large employer in the railway sector and one of the most important competence centre,” confirmed Tõnu Grünberg, Chairman of the Management Board of RB Estonia.
Six bidders competed in the design procurement of the rolling stock depot. The joint bid submitted by OÜ Reaalprojekt and NORD PROJEKT AS in the amount of 1.86 (+ VAT) million euros was declared successful. According to Tõnu Grünberg, there is a trend in almost all procurements related to Rail Baltica, where local and international companies submit joint tenders or involve highly experienced foreign specialists in the project team. This is also reflected in the announced tender for the rolling stock depot, where the project manager comes from the Swedish company ÅF Infrastructure AB Sweden.
The Ülemiste rolling stock depot is intended for servicing rolling stock running on Rail Baltica 1435mm track gauge, intended for passenger transport. The rolling stock will primarily repair and maintain trains whose final terminal is Rail Baltica Ülemiste joint terminal, but the depot must be ready to provide maintenance and repair services to the rest of Rail Baltica 1435mm gauge train fleet. The depot can accommodate seven trainsets at a time.
The Ülemiste rolling stock depot must enable parking for the passenger fleet and the performance of other necessary maintenance functions. The project must include design solutions for the traffic control centre, administrative building, warehouses, technical rooms and other necessary service units. In addition, seven pairs of rails that are necessary for parking the rolling stock are designed as part of the depot.
Following the design procurement contract, the involvement of an architect is required, who will co-operate with Rae municipality and Rail Baltic Estonia in creating the architectural design for the depot. The architectural design solutions must be approved by all parties involved.
The rolling stock depot will be designed in several stages and construction is scheduled to start in the first half of 2022.