In Lithuania, procurement has been announced for the Rail Baltica infrastructure

As part of the European railway project, Rail Baltic, purchases are open for designing infrastructure at the Kaunas railway junction and the section from Ezer (Kaunas) to the Lithuania-Poland border, this is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

The design phase became possible due to a streamlined land acquisition procedure for the necessary infrastructure. Contracts with service providers are expected to be signed in early 2024.

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The new and reconstructed infrastructure, including road and railway viaducts, crossings, and wildlife passages, will enhance safety and capacity from Kaunas to the Poland border even before completing the Rail Baltica mainline construction.

Services for technical preparation and project implementation of planned road and railway viaduct construction, railway crossings, and wildlife crossings are being procured.

The winning bidders will conduct engineering studies and prepare project proposals and technical plans for construction and reconstruction work. Projected completion of technical plans for all infrastructure is expected in early 2025.

The Kaunas railway junction will see infrastructure reconstruction, while new infrastructure will be built from Kaunas to Poland. Overall, for these segments of Rail Baltica, plans include constructing and reconstructing 2 railway crossings, 13 road and 2 railway viaducts before mainline construction starts. Migration paths for local wildlife will also be provided, with plans to install 5 wildlife crossings for safe animal migration.

The exact number of planned buildings will be known after land acquisition and project work completion. Project work is set to begin in early 2024.

Project service procurement is conducted through the Central Procurement Organization (CPO).

Approximately 170 sites have been identified for so-called focal points – viaducts, crossings, wildlife passages.

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Currently, on the most mature section from Kaunas to the Lithuania-Latvia border, railway track and engineering structures are being built, covering approximately 30 kilometers from Kaunas to the Latvia border, including the construction of the longest railway bridge in the Baltic countries over the Neris River.

Special plans and project work procurement are concluding for other project segments, Kaunas-Vilnius, and Kaunas-Lithuania-Poland border.

After approval of special plans (scheduled for the first half of 2024), land allocation and project work will proceed simultaneously.

Rail Baltica is the largest railway infrastructure project in the Baltic countries’ history, involving the construction of a double-track electrified European standard railway connecting Warsaw, Kaunas, Vilnius, Panevezys, Riga, Parnu, and Tallinn.

The total length of the Rail Baltica railway line in the Baltic countries is 870 km: 392 km in Lithuania, 265 km in Latvia, and 213 km in Estonia.

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