10 May 2019, Riga – the joint venture of the Baltic States RB Rail AS announced the winner in the tender “Design and design supervision services for the construction of the main line section through Riga”. The winning proposal amounting to 12 989 200 EUR was submitted by a group of two Spanish companies consisting of IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture and Ingeniería y Economía del Transporte (INECO). It is expected that the contract with the winner will be signed in June after completion of all necessary procedures, including a 10 day stand still period.
This high-speed railway section through Riga is 56 km long and consists of three sub-sections: Upeslejas–Rīga Central Station, Torņakalns–Imanta and Rīga International Airport–Misa river.
Within 24 months, the selected supplier will conduct site investigations, value engineering, development of the master design, and detailed technical design. In addition, the supplier will ensure design author’s supervision during the construction phase, following design completion and upon commencement of the construction works.
IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture, S.A.U. has more than 20 years of experience in designing conventional and high-speed rail in Europe, America, Middle East, and Africa. Recently, the company has been involved in high-speed projects in Spain, Poland and Sweden. IDOM employs 3 500 people in 45 offices worldwide. Similarly, INECO has been working in transport engineering and consultancy for already 50 years, with more than 20 years of experience in the high-speed rail sector. The company is operating in more than 50 countries and employing a team of 3000 professionals. INECO is also involved with the High Speed 2 (HS2) project in the UK, as one of the suppliers preparing preliminary designs.
In order to prepare for the design activities in Riga, on 7 May, RB Rail AS in cooperation with the Rail Baltica national implementer SIA “Eiropas dzelzceļa līnijas” (EDzL) and the Ministry of Transport of Latvia established a quarterly cooperation format with several NGOs and neighbourhood organisations in Riga. The goal of these quarterly meetings is to inform and engage with the communities in Riga on matters such as pedestrian crossings on the new railway line, safety and accessibility of Rail Baltica infrastructure and coordination with Riga municipality plans. In addition, regular coordination meetings with 15 municipalities affected by Rail Baltica in Latvia will commence on the 31 May under the leadership of the Ministry of Transport of Latvia.
In total, 7 out of 11 procurement procedures of the detailed technical design services for the mainline of Rail Baltica have been launched in the Baltic States, covering 57% of the entire length of the line. For Estonia, the detailed technical design procurement procedures are underway for the entire line from the Latvian/Estonian border to Tallinn and first design contract was signed in March. In Latvia, two out of four designs have been launched around Riga (Central section). Additionally, in June two more design tenders will be launched for Latvia in the sections towards the border of Latvia with Estonia and Lithuania. As for Lithuania, two sections out of four, spanning from Kaunas to the Lithuanian/Latvian border are being procured. In April, the first design contract was signed for a section from Kaunas to Ramygale.