Baiba Rubesa, the CEO of RB RAIL AS, announced that this year more than 20 tenders will be launched, which will contribute to the implementation of the project. Also, the main tasks within the project in 2018, on design phase, include the completion of the Consolidated preliminary technical design in the three countries, of the detailed technical design tenders in Estonia, partly in Latvia and Lithuania. As the Rail Baltica project has now entered the Design phase, the main focus of this year will be the design of the Rail Baltica project. Work is to be finalised on the comprehensive preliminary technical design in the three countries, which means putting together the national studies to be able to create a consistent railway corridor. Detailed technical design will be underway this summer for some of the sections. It is expected that whole detailed technical design will be completed in 2020.
Relating the needed studies, in 2018 there will be announced the operational plan, the long-term business plan, and the feasibility study on upgrading the railway line section between Lithuania and Poland (Kaunas- Palemonas section) should be completed. In addition, this year studies will be conducted for the infrastructure management and technical issues. Supplier market and commercialization studies will also be elaborated.
Regarding the project financing, the third CEF grant agreement will be signed in the next weeks and within EU’s next financial framework (MFF) the Rail Baltica project will be promoted in order to absorb more European funds. “Once the CEF3 Agreement is completed and signed within the next weeks, we will have ensured the financing of the EUR 824 million. It is notable that in the last CEF call for the first time ever the Commission has attributed additional funding of EUR 19 million beyond national allocations, demonstrating the Commission’s strong commitment to the Rail Baltica project,” Rubesa said.
Until now, EUR 824 million was allocated to Rail Baltica from EU and member states, of which EUR 683 million is the CEF contribution and EUR 141 million represents the national contribution.
The total value of Rail Baltica project is estimated at EUR 5.8 billion and it should be put into service in 2025.
Share on:
