The company has announced that the consortium it is part of will build a high-speed railway in Latvia. This is a 230 km long section that will offer a new quality in travel. The project will be carried out as part of the construction of the Rail Baltica railway line.
Rail Baltica is a planned railway line which is to connect the Baltic States with Poland via a normal railway line. We have been hearing about its construction for several years. The cross-border project has been divided into sections and the route built is to enable trains to travel at speeds of over 200 km/h.
The consortium that will build the Latvian section of the route consists of France’s Eiffage Génie Civil, Poland’s Budimex and Italy’s Rizzani de Eccher. Budimex has a 30 per cent share in the consortium. The Polish engineers and builders will be tasked with the creation of civil engineering structures and the trackway along a 230 km stretch. A total of 175 engineering structures and 11 animal crossings will be built. The work is expected to cost €3.7 billion, with 85 per cent of this amount covered by funding from the European Connecting Europe Fund and 15 per cent by the Latvian budget.
The signing of this agreement and Budimex’s participation in the consortium, implementing one of the EU’s largest railway projects, is a big success for the Polish construction industry. It is also a success for our country – Poland – that it will be the general contractor for the largest infrastructure investment in Latvia with a total value exceeding 16 billion zlotys. This will also be a high-speed line, which is the highest railway standard in Europe. We have been working on this contract as a consortium for more than two years, together with leading players from the European Union market: Eiffage Genie Civil and Rizzani de Eccher,” says Artur Popko, President of the Management Board of Budimex SA.
Today, in Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania, trains run on broad-gauge lines. Building normal-gauge connections will eliminate the problem that occurs at the border – trains will be able to run without unnecessary stops. Currently, only one train travels from Warsaw towards Lithuania and it only reaches the Mockava border station. Those going to Kaunas or Vilnius have to change trains at this station to Lietuvos geležinkeliai – the Lithuanian national railway company. The journey time is unattractive. A train journey from Warsaw Central Station to the border takes 5 hours and 50 minutes. By car, on the other hand, it takes less than 4 hours. This is expected to change in a few years.
Rail Baltica is being constructed as part of the Trans-European Transport Network. The route connecting Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and indirectly Finland is expected to accelerate the integration of these areas into the European Union and facilitate trade between these countries. The design speed of the Baltic section of the route connecting Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Panevėžys, Kaunas, Vilnius and Warsaw is 249 km/h for passenger trains and 120 km/h for goods trains.
Construction work is due to start in 2024 and will last eight years.
source: Budimex S.A.
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