Three contractors win €3.7bn Rail Baltica civils and track-laying work

The Iecava Infrastructure maintenance point in Latvia, where the first construction works will begin (Image: Rail Baltica)

A consortium of three contractors called ERB Rail – Eiffage, Budimex and Rizzani de Eccher – have won a €3.7bn contract for the civil engineering and track-laying works on a 230km section of the Rail Baltica project.

Rail Baltica involves integrating the Baltic states into the European rail network along an 830km line running from Helsinki in Finland and Tallinn in Estonia in the north, to Warsaw in Poland further south.

The line will be the first large-scale mainline standard gauge railway in the region, with most of the legacy rail networks in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania running on Russian gauge lines.

The contract was awarded by the public company Eiropas Dzelzcela Linijas (EDZL), the national implementing body of Rail Baltica in Latvia, acting on behalf of Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Latvia.

The public company RB RAIL AS, made up of and run by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, is coordinating the project for the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).

The contract involves constructing 175 engineering structures and 11 animal crossings. It will be subject to several multi-annual purchase orders.

The European fund Connecting Europe Facility is funding 85% of the project, with 15% coming from the Republic of Latvia.

The section won by ERB Rail will see passenger trains run at 249kmh, while freight trains will run at speeds of 120 kmh.

Work on the first 13km section of the line is due to start in early 2024, after financing of up to €165 million was secured.

Eiffage, which is already involved in the construction of the UK’s high-speed rail line HS2, is lead contractor in the venture and owns a 50% share of the joint venture.

Rizzani de Eccher is already working in Latvia on the construction of the Rail Baltica Riga Central Hub.