PROJECT delivery company RB Rail has announced the official start of tracklaying on the new 1435mm-gauge Rail Baltica line in the Jonava district of Lithuania, where the 8.8km Šveicarija - Žeimiai section is scheduled for completion by the end of this year.
Tracklaying is being undertaken by a joint venture of Leonhard Weiss of Germany and its Estonian subsidiary Leonhard Weiss OÜ. The €13.9m contract was awarded earlier this year by Lithuanian infrastructure manager LTG Infra.
Responsible for delivering the Rail Baltica project in Lithuania, LTG Infra has procured tracklaying materials that include 86,200 tonnes of ballast, 29,500 reinforced concrete sleepers, and 42km of rail, which is being laid in 25m lengths.
“Planning, design, and preparation take up a significant portion of the project timeline,” says LTG CEO, Egidijus Lazauskas. “Our priority now is to maintain the momentum we achieved last year and continue progressing at pace.”
Other sections
Elsewhere in Lithuania, civil works are in progress on the Kaunas - Panevėžys section, with 77km of embankment and structures under construction. Work is expected to be in progress on 114km of Rail Baltica by the end of this year, including tracklaying and the construction of a new bridge over the Neris River, which will be the longest in Lithuania.
In Estonia, RB Rail reports civil works are underway on 105km, with contracts signed for 200km of civil works and tracklaying. A total of 202km of Rail Baltica will run in Latvia, where work is focusing on the southern section of the main line between Riga and the Lithuanian border. By the end of this year, 43% of the Rail Baltica main line will be construction-ready, RB Rail says.
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