Prointec, the subsidiary of Indra, in consortium with German company OBERMEYER Planen + Beraten GmbH was awarded the design engineering and supervision of 93.5 kilometer railway section of Rail Baltica Global Project between the Estonian city of Pärnu and the border with Latvia.
The contract value amounts to EUR 10.8 million (USD 12 million).
According to the preliminary design, this section will have 9 railway bridges, 15 highway overpasses, 11 ecoducts (false overpasses that allow animals to cross) and 148 small drainage-framework works, in addition to three passenger stations and one for goods.
The design phase, with a duration of 27 months, will comprise geotechnical investigations and detailed technical design, from conceptual development to construction of the section. During the second phase, which will last 60 months, the correct execution of the project solutions will be confirmed and the modifications made to the original design will be approved.
The new Rail Baltica network, a high-speed line of 870 kilometers of double track and standard gauge, will quickly, sustainably and securely connect the capitals of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and offer a direct connection to the rest of Europe, without requiring adaptations. Currently, the Baltic States have different track gauges than the rest of Europe, so until the new line is available it is necessary to adapt widths or change vehicles, with the costs that this entails in terms of time and money. For this reason, most of the goods traffic and rail services in the Baltic States is with the countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), mainly Russia, instead of the rest of the EU through Poland, something which the new rail infrastructure will foreseeably improve on.
The largest infrastructure project in the Baltic region in the last 100 years will thus facilitate the transportation of people and goods to the rest of Europe with maximum safety, comfort and in an environmentally sustainable way, with the subsequent impact on the economic development of the region.
