Rail Baltica Latvia signs for construction design of regional stations
RERE INECO, a Latvian-Spanish association of companies, will develop the construction designs of the Latvian stations of the new Rail Baltica high-speed railway. Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas, Rail Baltica’s national implementing body in Latvia, and RERE INECO signed the 3.6-million cooperation agreement on 4 November.
Rail Baltica is a cross-border high-speed railway project designed to connect the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, as well as link up with the wider European railway network. “Regional traffic and mobility points will become an essential part of Rail Baltica”, said Kitija Gruškevica, Head of Latvian branch at RB Rail AS. The Rail Baltica railway system is planned in such a way as to be able to provide cross-border traffic of regional trains, thus allowing connection of border regions in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
The design works should be completed by the end of 2023, so that the construction of regional stations could start in 2024, Kaspars Vingris, Chairman of the Board of Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas, said to LETA news agency. He also said that the regional stations will be built by the same builder who won the procurement for the construction of the main line.
Efficient transfer to international trains
Regional trains of the Rail Baltica line will stop both at international stations and regional stops and reach a speed of up to 200 kilometres per hour. The goal is also to ensure efficient transfer to international trains. Within the design framework, 16 stations dubbed ‘mobility points’ are planned on the Rail Baltica mainline in Latvia. The regional mobility points are expected to bring together different modes of transport, such as railway, state and municipal buses, private vehicles and electric vehicles, scooters, bicycles and other micro mobility tools. The station will be ‘near-zero emission’ buildings, with construction to the highest environmental requirements.
“With the introduction of Rail Baltica, an overturn in mobility habits is expected”, said Vingris. According to him, as soon as the Rail Baltica regional trains will start running, people will no longer have to adjust by choosing their places of residence at a closer distance from the centre or Riga or their own vicinities. “For example, vicinity near Bauska or Salacgrīva will be an equally good location the place of residence, and the place of work will be reachable quickly and conveniently. Furthermore, opportunities to create new jobs in regions or even work in the neighboring countries, for example, in Kaunas or Parnu, will be provided”, he said.
Latvian-Spanish cooperation
The Latvian RERE Group, in partnership with the construction company BERERIX, is already working on Rail Baltica Riga Central Station construction together with colleagues from Belgium and Italy. “By combining global and local experience in the right synergy, together with the Rail Baltica project delivery organisations, we will be able to assign specific volumes and shapes to the points currently marked on the map,” she added.
Spanish company Ineco, involved worldwide in the design of transport infrastructure, noted that “the company is already actively involved working with Rail Baltica project and is ready to further contribute with its international knowledge to develop the regional station construction design.”
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