The joint company of the three Baltic States “RB Rail” has submitted a request for more than EUR 325 million for Rail Baltica in the new Connecting Europe Facility breach.
In Latvia funding has been applied for the southern section of the Rail Baltica base track in the direction from the Lithuanian border to Salaspils for the next construction phase, which includes the construction of a 14.2 km railway embankment. The additional application includes the first phase of the Rail Baltica electrification technical project in section from the Latvian-Lithuanian border to Upeslejas, as well as project implementation support measures.
Minister of Transport Kaspars Briskens mentioned at a meeting of the Saeima Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee that the financing Latvia had applied for was approximately EUR 160 million.
“We cannot apply for more funding because we have come close to the peak funding level available to us in the past seven years,” said the minister.
It is planned that efforts in Lithuania will focus on several strategic elements, including three structures in the section of Kaunas node railway base track, as well as the development of a full-scale electrification technical project from the Latvian border to the Polish border, the design of regional stations and executive design services. The plan also includes the purchase of land for 30% of the section between the Polish border and the Kaunas city hub.
In Estonia, on the other hand, the application includes the construction of a 10.1 km long double-track embankment on the section from Karpla to Selja, including railway substructures and civil engineering tasks.
RB Rail notes that in addition to national activities, Rail Baltica cross-border activities will continue, which will be implemented by RB Rail and co-financed by the three Baltic States. RB Rail will continue to coordinate the global project in the field of systems engineering and project management, including CEF activity management, global project coordination, planning and verification, and ENE technical design support activities.
It is planned for submitted projects to be reviewed until July.
After the notification of the decision of the European Commission (EC) to grant support to selected projects, a new financing agreement will be concluded in autumn.
The joint company states that last year, a framework contract for the construction of the main track was signed in Latvia, covering 228 km with the initial construction of a 40-km section at the Lithuanian border. In Estonia last year, construction contracts covered 73.87 km of railway embankment with an additional 32.59 km, for which it was planned to announce procurement in the coming weeks.
In Lithuania construction of the main track embankment and engineering structures continued for 46.3 km, as well as procurement for an additional 12.1 km. Lithuania plans to announce additional procurements in 2025, with a total of 114 km of works being carried out this year.
RB Rail points out that currently about 160 km of the base track and related infrastructure are under construction in all three Baltic States.
In turn, taking into account the ongoing procurement processes for the main railway subsystems and the current pace of work, it is planned to achieve construction readiness for 43% of the main track until the end of 2025.
It is also noted that the project has been provided with more than EUR 4 billion euros of funding with significant contributions from the European Union (EU) and member states. To address inflationary cost increases, Rail Baltica is considering new funding mechanisms, including public-private partnership (PPP) solutions and the use of EU military mobility funds.
Marko Kivila, Chairman of the Board of RB Rail, points out that the competition for CEF funding call is very strong. Nevertheless, RB Rail is optimistic about a positive result, as this funding is critical for accelerating the progress of the construction of Rail Baltica in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. (BNN)