International award for the project "Rail Baltica"
On March 18, in Gdansk (Poland), the director of "Rail Baltica statyba" Dainius Budrys received The Baltic Trendsetters Club Certificate granted for creativity, perseverance and exceptional and courageous projects on the transport market, says press center of Lithuania’s Ministry for Transport and Communications. The certificate acknowledged the company‘s contribution to setting up a joint venture of the three Baltic States "RB Rail". The awards are organized annually by the magazine "Baltic Transport Journal".
“I am glad that our work was evaluated positively. “Rail Baltica” is a strategic European transport infrastructure project. The project will allow developing the European transport corridors and creating favorable conditions for mobility and logistics throughout both European Union and Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. In current political context, this project represents even more, that is the national security. Contemporary, we need an efficient European gauge rail link to the rest of the EU transport network” said Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania Rimantas Sinkevičus.
According to Dainius Budrys, the director of “Rail Baltica statyba”, the project “Rail Baltica 2” is the largest and most expensive transport infrastructure project to be implemented after the independence of the Baltic States.
“The establishment of the joint venture of the three Baltic States was the first and very important step forward. In still short lifetime of the joint venture, we managed to go even further; namely, a joint application of the three Baltic States for the EU funding is already submitted. I sincerely hope that our work and efforts will be acknowledged, and after few years the end of the project’s implementation, which was initiated with the joint venture, will be closer. Currently, the most important task is to take evident action for the implementation of the project” said Dainius Budrys.
The joint venture of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia “RB Rail” was established in last October. The parts own one third of the company’s shares. It will manage the procedures of implementation in each country, coordinate the development of the project and provide administrative services. It will control the international project “Rail Baltica” - a European gauge railway connecting the Baltic countries, Finland and Poland. The latter countries are also invited to join the joint venture. The project is expected to be completed by 2024, with a connection from Lithuanian-Polish border to Tallinn.
The institutions of EU identify the project as a strategic and long-term railway project aiming to build and develop the European standard railway line (1435 mm) and connect the three Baltic States with the Western Europe.
In Lithuania, the project “Rail Baltica” is being implemented eagerly since 2007. During the first phase of the project, a section from the Polish-Lithuanian border to Kaunas of a total length of 123 km was reconstructed; in addition, a new European standard gauge was constructed.
In 2014-2020, the first phase works are expected to be completed and the second phase of the project – the design and construction of the standard double-track electrified railway section from Kaunas to the Lithuanian-Latvian state border – to be started. The line is designed for a top speed of 240 kilometers per hour.
