Intelligent Rail Summit ’24: Rail Baltica drops €1bn on contracts in 1 week

Published on 16-10-2024 at 13:44

Big investments are coming for Rail Baltica, and that's big news for this year's Intelligent Rail Summit. Rail Baltica

There you have it. In less than one month, Europe’s top rail experts will be gathering in Tallinn for RailTech’s Intelligent Rail Summit ‘24. And the timing couldn’t be better: Rail Baltica’s managers have, in the last few weeks, pledged more than one billion euros in contracts and tenders to progress the mega-project. With some of its top executives speaking at our upcoming summit, attendees are set to gain deep insights into the real-time application of the latest tech in one of Europe’s biggest rail programmes. Here are some of the most recent Rail Baltica developments that IRS24 will be helping to unpick in Estonia…

This year, big news for Rail Baltica is big news for the Intelligent Rail Summit. That’s particularly true when it applies to Tallinn because we’ll be holding our conference there in November. And luckily, Estonia has been particularly active on that front in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Rail Baltic Estonia launched a massive landmark infrastructure tender valued at a huge 932 million euros for the Rail Baltica main line in Estonia.

An estimated 394 million euros will go towards the construction of the railway between the Tallinn district of Ülemiste and the southwestern coastal city of Pärnu. The other contract, valued at 394 million euros, is for the tracks between Pärnu and the Latvian border town of Ikla. And if that wasn’t enough, an additional 57-million-euro tender was announced for the construction of the Ülemiste Linda terminal building. That’s all massive news for Estonia and its future contractors. But it also brings the high-speed connection of the three Baltic States, and the wider European network, that much closer.

Anvar Salomets, CEO of Rail Baltic Estonia, Vladimir Svet, Minister of Infrastructure, and Janar Tükk, Delivery Manager at Rail Baltic Estonia announce the country's big tender. — Anvar Salomets, CEO of Rail Baltic Estonia, Vladimir Svet, Minister of Infrastructure, and Janar Tükk, Delivery Manager at Rail Baltic Estonia announce the country’s big tender. Rail Baltica.

The sum of all its parts

On completion, the Rail Baltica main line will run from the northern tip of the Baltics in Tallinn through to Latvia and its capital Riga, all the way down to Vilnius in Lithuania and on to the Polish border. Essentially, the opportunities—and the funds—for employing the most cutting-edge technologies to the cross-border rail project are becoming very real and moving at break-neck speed. In the case of Estonia—once dubbed “the most advanced digital society in the world” – all that’s needed now is to decide how, and by whom, this tech will be applied, as it tries to position itself as the country in Europe setting new standards for rail systems on the continent.

As Rail Baltica states, the project’s scope “offers significant opportunities” for global construction companies, alongside “rail industry players” seeking to establish operations in the region: “By creating a new value chain during both the construction and operational phases, Rail Baltica is set to attract companies involved in rail technology, logistics, and manufacturing.” They could almost be talking about the Intelligent Rail Summit ‘24…

Intelligent Rail Summit: ‘the perfect forum’

Indeed, as one of our esteemed guest speakers at IRS24, Émilien Dang, told RailTech, our conference next month serves as “the perfect forum for industry specialists to collaborate, share insights, and explore how intelligent technologies are transforming the future of Europe’s rail systems.” He should know. As the Chief Technical Officer of RB Rail AS, the joint venture company behind the entire Rail Baltica project, he will be managing all the technical aspects of the programme.

“As Rail Baltica continues to advance the most ambitious infrastructure project in the Baltics, staying updated on the latest technological innovations is critical to achieving greater efficiency, safety, and sustainability,” he said. “Intelligent Rail Summit ‘24 offers a valuable platform to explore the latest advancements in train monitoring, asset management, predictive maintenance, as well as AI and cybersecurity innovations in the rail sector.”

And as Vladimir Svet, Estonia’s Infrastructure Minister, stated on announcing the landmark tender, what’s happening in the Baltics goes far beyond its borders: “Rail Baltica is more than a regional project; it connects Estonia and the Baltic states to Europe’s extensive rail network, creating new opportunities for economic growth and improving mobility across the continent… The announcement of extensive construction procurement for Rail Baltica’s mainline is a testament to our commitment to this pivotal project that brings Europe closer together.” A small side note—the theme of this year’s IRS is ‘Connecting Europe’.

Lithuania on track

But it’s not just Estonia forging ahead with the cross-border mega-project. The Lithuanian government has kicked off October with a slew of new announcements related to its own Rail Baltica progress. That includes signing a 98-million-euro contract for the construction of an additional 17.1 km Rail Baltica section in the country.

Head of Eurovia CZ’s Lithuanian branch Julius-Simkevicius shakes hands with Vytis Zalimas, CEO of LTG Infra. Rail Baltica.

LTG Infra, Lithuania’s project lead company, announced last week that it had contracted Czechia’s Eurovia CZ to build the first part of the Šėta-Ramygala section. Running from the country’s north to its centre, the work on the first 17.1 km of the section will be tacked on to the 29 km of construction already underway towards Panevėžys in Lithuania’s north. The project is expected to be completed by the end of 2027, with Lithuania’s Deputy Transport Minister, Loreta Maskaliovienė, hailing the progress of the line’s construction as “very welcome and much-anticipated news.”

In total, more than 65 km of Rail Baltica in Lithuania will be under construction at the beginning of next year, which is big progress. “The procurement for the construction of the 18.9 km section is also in its final stage, and we are planning to launch the procurement for another 12.1 km section soon,” said the CEO of LTG Infra, Vytis Žalimas. Meanwhile, the Lithuanian government approved last week a special plan for the development of several stations on the Rail Baltica section from Kaunas to the Lithuanian-Latvian border. They will provide the possibility of connecting the Rail Baltica main line with Lithuania’s regions. Once again, opportunities abound. But with big opportunities come big questions.

Future thinking at Intelligent Rail Summit ’24

If the scope of this month’s contracts and tenders wasn’t an obvious enough clue, in the coming years, Rail Baltica will be at the forefront of expanding European rail. That includes integrating technologies like AI, big data, and machine learning into its far-spanning systems. It’s a massive part of the construction process and will be central to operations once the trains hit the tracks.

But still in their relative infancy, how exactly should these technological advancements be used to truly transform rail operations and efficiency, while simultaneously maintaining safety? And with all this increased processing power, how can we ensure such progress remains green and secure from cyber threats?

From the real-life application of AI to the twists and turns of the continent’s most ambitious infrastructure project, top rail specialists all the way from Rail Baltica to Royal HaskoningDHV will be exploring these issues at RailTech’s Intelligent Rail Summit ‘24 in Tallinn between the 12 and 13 November 2024. Essentially, if you want to help shape the future of Europe’s rail industry, Tallinn is the place to be this November. Register now and find out more about the exciting programme here.