"There is intense international competition for the construction of the Rail Baltica station and related infrastructure at Riga International Airport," a release from Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas said.
Companies from Latvia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland, France, Turkey and Austria are all bidding to qualify for the construction work of Rail Baltica station and related infrastructure at Riga International Airport.
Tālis Linkaits, Latvia's Transport Minister, said: “The Rail Baltica station at Rīga International Airport will be the first airport railway station in the Baltics. It will enable Rīga Airport to continue to be the most convenient, largest and most significant aviation hub in the Baltic States. It will provide a significant benefit to Rīga residents and visitors - a convenient and fast way to travel between the city center of the capital and the airport."
The international competition announced on November 3 last year is in two stages. The first stage is the selection of candidates. In the second phase, the technical and financial proposals submitted by the candidates will be evaluated and by the end of 2020, it is planned to sign a contract and start construction work in 2021.
It is currently estimated that the value of the tender could be around 250 million to 280 million euros, though the exact amount will only be known when Stage 2 is announced. The project is funded by the European Commission and the Ministry of Transport and implemented by European Railway lines and RB Rail.
Meanwhile in Estonia, RB Rail has announced results of the “Design and design supervision services for the construction of the new line from Pärnu to the Estonian – Latvian border”. The proposal submitted by the association consisting of two international companies – OBERMEYER Planen + Beraten GmbH (Germany) and PROINTEC S.A. (Spain) – was selected as the most economically advantageous. The price of the contract is 10 779 467,86 EUR.
The high-speed railway section from Pärnu to the Estonian – Latvian state border is 93.5 km long and, according to the preliminary design, will include 9 railway bridges, 15 road viaducts, 7 railway viaducts and 11 animal passages (ecoducts).
“We have reached yet another important milestone in Estonia. Once the contract is signed in the upcoming weeks, all 213 kilometres of the Rail Baltica line in Estonia will be in the design process. In addition to the steady progress with the main line, the first construction activity in Estonia has started with several more to follow throughout the year. Importantly, design of the international Rail Baltica passenger terminals in Tallinn and Pärnu has also been started,” said Agnis Driksna, interim CEO of RB Rail.
The selected designer is expected to deliver the detailed technical design within 27 months and to ensure author supervision during the construction period.
