Rail Baltica project has received a EUR 448 million co-financing from the European Commission under the 2016 FEC Transport calls.
The funding is split in two important projects that involve:
• EUR 110 million is available for the joint project by consortium RB Rail, between Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
• EUR 338 million for the Białystok – Elk line, meaning 80% of the Rail Baltica line in Poland will be complete by 2023.
“I am pleased that on 23 June 2017 the European Commission announced almost half a billion euro for two projects on the global Rail Baltica project. This is a significant amount of money, considering the total pot available was EUR 2.7 billion, and this was divided out between 152 projects across Europe. The Rail Baltica line forms part of the North-Sea Baltic TEN-T Corridor. Competition for funding under this third Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) call was strong, and the number of projects proposed far exceeded the available funding. In this context, I am very pleased that Rail Baltica secured so much funding from the CEF – just over one sixth of the funding available under this CEF call,” Catherine Trautmann, North-Sea Baltic TEN-T Corridor Coordinator said.
This is on top of the EUR 1.2 billion in funding provided by CEF to the Rail Baltica project in previous calls. As in previous years, the funding comes with certain conditions to be met.
This was the last call where the national envelopes reserved for cohesion Member States applied. It is remarkable that all three Baltic States, as well as Poland, not only managed to fully consume their allocation but will obtain funding under the cohesion call that goes beyond these envelopes. Out of the EUR 110 million recommended amount for the Baltic States’ application, EUR 19 million comes on top of the national allocations of the Baltic States. This is the first time that the Commission has attributed additional funding beyond the national allocations, showing the Commission’s strong commitment to the Rail Baltica project, Trautmann explained.
The Rail Baltica project, which is part of a major programme aimed at enhancing the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), is an important connection linking the Baltic States with other EU countries.
The total amount of investments of the three Baltic countries in the project is put at about EUR 5.8 billion of which, in Estonia – EUR 1.4 billion (with a state’s share of EUR 268 million), in Latvia – EUR 2 billion (with a state’s share of EUR 393 million) and in Lithuania – EUR 2.5 billion (the state’s share about EUR 493 million).
Lithuania is leader in Rail Baltica implementation as it has built the European gauge line to Kaunas. This year, under the Rail Baltica, Poland has signed two contracts. The first contract (EUR 49.3 million) involves the modernisation of 95 km railway line between Ostroleka, Siedlce, Czeremchą and Bialystok on Sadowne – Bialystok route. The contract was signed with a consortium formed by Track Tec Construction (leader), Infrakol, Leonhard Weiss, Intop Warszawa. The second contract (EUR 153 million) was signed with Intercor Sp. z o.o. for the modernisation of Warsaw – Białystok rail, on Sadowne – Czyżew (70 km of tracks).
For Sadowne – Czyżew and Czyżew – Białystok rail sections Poland received EU funds from the Connecting Europe Facility. The modernisation of the next section from Białystok through Ełk and Suwałki to the country’s border in Trakiszki is in planning stage.
In addition, in June, the Estonian parliament ratified the agreement on the development of the Rail Baltica railway link from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border.
In January 2017, the Prime Ministers of the three Baltic States signed the agreement on the construction schedule of Rail Baltica as well as gauge and other parameters. They agreed to outline general technical parameters, routes, the deadlines of the project’s implementation, construction conditions and a contractor, and the role of RB Rail AS in ensuring preliminary conditions and building the railway as well as the funding of the railway’s construction. The agreement provides for the implementation of the Rail Baltica project by 2025 and the launch of the railway’s operation in 2026.
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