Europe's historic rail development decided

The Spanish consortium Cobelec Rail Baltica, consisting of the companies Cobra and Elecnor, has won the contract for the complete electrification of the new Rail Baltica railway line. The railway line under construction will connect Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The project in question is the largest railway electrification project in the history of European railways, with a cost of €1.77 billion, according to zdopravy.cz.

The contract, signed last week, covers the electrification of 870 kilometres of new railway lines, covering a total of 2,403 kilometres of track. The first phase is worth €949 million and is scheduled to be completed by 2030.

"By choosing a single supplier to implement the project, we will achieve greater efficiency and ensure better control of costs," the news site quoted Aiga Benfelde of investment company RB Rail as saying after the conclusion of the procurement competition, which has been running since 2022 and involved four consortia.

The new line will be powered by a 25 kV 50 Hz AC system. It will have a total of ten traction power stations. Construction of the new line is currently underway in all three Baltic countries. In Estonia, more than 100 km of lines are under construction. In Latvia, work is currently under way mainly near Lecava in the south of the country. At the same time, major projects are underway at the terminals of the Riga central hub and at the airport. In Lithuania, construction is also continuing on the Kaunas-Panevėžys section, where 77 km of track is currently under construction.