Rail Baltica: Substructure for Double-Track Railway Will Be Built by Lithuanian Companies

A new substructure for a double-track railway and engineering structures on the Rail Baltica section between Kaunas and the Lithuanian–Latvian border will be built by the joint venture partners Fegda and Tilsta. They won two tenders for the construction works in Jonava District announced by LTG Infra, the company responsible for the implementation of the project in Lithuania. The total value of the contracts is almost EUR 165.54 million excluding VAT.

“The most developed section of Rail Baltica is already undergoing construction work and will increasingly be expanded. In 2024, we plan to carry out major construction works to build the railway to Panevėžys, as well as most of the preparations for the construction of the railway on the other sections,” says Dovydas Palaima, General Manager at LTG Infra Rail Baltica Management.

On the 10-km section from Šveicarija to Žeimiai and on the section from Žeimiai to Šėta, the successful tenderers will build the substructure and engineering structures with a length of 17.7 km. Accordingly, all railway works without the installation of the superstructure will be carried out: the preparation of land and parcels of land, the installation of a railway drainage system and a protective fence, the implementation of a part of the service roads.

During the execution of the contracts, railway bridges, wildlife crossings, sound barrier walls and other engineering structures will also be built. Also, during the construction of the substructure, the reconstruction and repairs of the telecommunications and electricity networks, the reconstruction of the state district and national roads that will cross the railway and the installation of overpasses will be carried out.

The contracts stipulate that the contractors will carry out the works on the Šveicarija–Žeimiai section in just over one and a half years and on the Žeimiai–Šėta section — in two years. The value of the works in these sections amounts to EUR 87.88 million excluding VAT, and for the Žeimiai–Šėta section — EUR 77.66 million excluding VAT. The contractors plan to start the groundwork next year under good weather conditions.

Rail Baltica is the largest railway infrastructure project in the history of the Baltic States, which will build a fully electrified double-track European gauge railway connecting Warsaw, Kaunas, Vilnius, Panevėžys, Riga, Pärnu and Tallinn. The total length of Rail Baltica in the Baltic States is 870 km, with 392 km in Lithuania, 265 km in Latvia and 213 km in Estonia.