Today, April 24, during a meeting with President of Estonia Alar Karis, who is in Latvia on a state visit, President of Latvia Egils Levits and the accompanying delegations, the management of the Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS and the national project implementing body “Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas” discussed issues related to the progress of the implementation and construction of the project, the current challenges, as well as outlined the areas that would contribute to the faster implementation of the global project, as well as allow to prepare for the commissioning of the infrastructure. The meeting concluded with the delegations’ visit to the construction site of Rail Baltica Riga central node.
“Rail Baltica is an ambitious and challenging project both on a European and global scale, taking into account both the total length of the mainline and technical solutions which aim to ensure interoperability, unify delivery approaches and quality across the three Baltic States, and with connection to Poland. Design schedule stabilization is the main precondition to commence large-scale mainline construction, planned at different sections already by the end of this year. We are also working closely with our project partners to address improvements of legislative framework essential for the implementation of the project, ensure further financing, including addressing potential improvements of the financing model, as well as strengthening cross-border and cross-sectoral cooperation,” said Marko Kivila, acting CEO of RB Rail AS.
At the same time, we are addressing vital regulatory improvement issues for a seamless project implementation, exploring opportunities for further funding, and building robust cross-border and strengthening cross-sectoral cooperation channels.
“We are glad to host both our presidents for a visit of the construction site and appreciate them paying special attention to Rail Baltica in a very packed visit program. We are proud of the progress achieved in Rail Baltica Riga Central node construction which enables us to approach mainline construction phase outside Riga. The project will have its share of challenges, but in close cooperation the Baltic states can deliver this unique railway project and, very importantly, a bench-mark infrastructure management model,” said Kaspars Vingris, Chairman of the Board at SIA “Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas.
Rail Baltica management also stressed that the project is gaining an increasingly important role in the European security framework as a part of both the North Sea – Baltic Sea and potentially in the future also the Baltic Sea – Black Sea – Aegean Sea transport corridor.
