Riihimäki was appointed to the role in February and began work in March. He previously held several management positions at NRC Group and at VR Track, which was acquired by NRC Group in October 2018. At NRC Group, he was involved in leading the Finnish railway engineering, construction and maintenance division, including as a member of the management board and vice-president of material services and track machinery.
Riihimäki replaced Ms Baiba Rubesa, who resigned suddenly on September 27 2018 citing poor oversight and a different and irreconcilable vision for the project’s management and implementation.
The RB project is a joint venture for the construction of an 870km mixed-traffic standard-gauge railway with a design speed of 240km/h from the Estonian capital Tallinn, via Riga and Riga Airport in Latvia, and Panevezys and Kaunas in Lithuania, to the Polish border, with a branch from Kaunas to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.
“I regret to leave Rail Baltica due to personal reasons,” Riihimäki says. “I experienced Rail Baltica as an exciting project to work for, and I would like to thank the entire RB Rail staff, stakeholders, international partners and supervisory board for their cooperation and support.”
During his tenure, Riihimäki oversaw progress on the project including the launch of design works on 411km of the Rail Baltica main line as well as launching the design procurement for an additional 236km. Riihimäki also introduced a programme management division to strengthen the project’s capacity to implement the design and construction phases. The role of the procurement division was also reinforced within the company to ensure a more efficient procurement process.
“We are saddened that Timo Riihimäki has resigned, but we respect his decision,” says chairman of the RB Rail supervisory board, Mr Karolis Sankovski. “Operation of the joint venture will be assured by other members of the management board as well as the whole RB Rail team during the period to recruit a new CEO. The team will also be strengthened shortly by the chief programme management officer who will be responsible for accelerating the project’s critical path activities.”
Riihimäki’s resignation is the second major change for the project management this month, after Estonia appointed Mr Ahti Kuningas to replace Ms Riia Sillave as a member of the RB Rail supervisory board.
