The first structure in Estonia will be the Saustinõmme viaduct, which will cross the Rail Baltica main line. The scheme comprises a 4.1km four-lane highway, twin bypasses of Saku junction and an animal tunnel. All the works will be completed by the second quarter of 2021 under a €19m contract awarded to YIT. The work is funded by a €10.31m contribution from the European Union’s Cohesion Fund and €6.92m from Rail Baltic Estonia.
The viaduct is the first joint project between Rail Baltic Estonia, the Estonian Road Administration and RB Rail. Various intersections between Rail Baltica and the existing infrastructure will be built including highway bypasses, relocating high-voltage power lines and gas pipelines.
“During the last couple of years, the Rail Baltica project in Estonia has progressed at good speed,” says Mr Riia Sillave, head of Rail Baltica Estonia. “The detailed technical design of the route is underway, the architectural competition for Ülemiste Joint Terminal has been successfully completed and negotiations with the winners are ongoing. The technical design of the RB Pärnu terminal is about to begin.”
Rail Baltica 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.
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