Lithuania is concerned about the slow pace of Rail Baltica’s construction in Poland in particular as the European-standard gauge railway will not realize its full potential without Poland’s contribution, The Baltic Course reports.
“The development of railway infrastructure in Poland is indeed raising concerns. Modern infrastructure and adequate speed are very important for the project to be able to achieve its maximum potential. Without these conditions in Poland, the project won’t deliver its full benefit,” Dainius Budrys, CEO of Rail Baltica Statyba, a Lithuanian shareholder of the joint Baltic venture RB Rail, told the Polish portal przegladbaltycki.pl.
Lithuania, which last year completed the section of Rail Baltica between Kaunas and the border with Poland, was the leader of the railway project, the portal said. According to Budrys, this was the first stage of construction and the country was now busy with preparations for the second stage, which would cover the section between Kaunas and Lithuania’s border with Latvia.
In mid-January, Poland’s railway company Polskie Linie Kolejowe issued a tender for the construction of 230 km line bypasses as part of preparations for the reconstruction of an important section of Rail Baltica between Sadowne and Bialystok.
According to wnp.pl, the tender reflects a new approach to the implementation of large-scale investment projects, which involves the construction of alternative bypasses in order to avoid disruptions in cargo and passenger transportation.
The Rail Baltica project may cost between EUR 3.7 billion and EUR 5.2 billion in total, based on various estimations. The total length of Rail Baltica is planned to be around 360 km in Lithuania, slightly more than 300 km in Latvia, about 300 km in Estonia and 430 kilometers in Poland.
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