Rail Baltic Estonia and Elering enter into agreement for reconstructing energy infrastructure

Today, Rail Baltic Estonia and Elering signed a cooperation agreement, which sets forth the terms and conditions for reconstructing the intersections of the Rail Baltica railway with high voltage power lines and gas pipes owned by Elering.

The Rail Baltica railway intersects with different overhead transmission lines and gas pipes owned by Elering along its 213-kilometre Estonian stretch. In order to ensure that the co-functioning of the infrastructure is safe and continues once the new railway is built, a total of five intersections with 330 kV and 26 110 kV overhead transmission lines and six intersections with gas pipes must be reconstructed as part of the project.

Rail Baltic Estonia is tasked with the organisation of the work necessary for reconstruction of the railway and utility lines. Elering will perform technical monitoring of both design and construction work throughout the project.

According to Marko Kivila, Acting Member of the Board of Rail Baltic Estonia OÜ, it is important to ensure that the railway construction does not interfere with the functioning of the systems, and the reconstruction work is performed in accordance with the established schedule. “We will invest around 10 million euros in the reconstruction of intersections with electricity and gas pipes, and hope to complete the work by the end of 2022 based on the current schedule,” said Kivila.

“Elering is happy to contribute to the Rail Baltica project by supporting the development of electric transport and, in doing so, the achievement of climate objectives in Estonia,” said Taavi Veskimägi, Chairman of the Management Board of Elering.

According to the schedule, the first procurement processes for the reconstruction of the infrastructure will begin in March. Depending on the project’s progress, it is estimated that the reconstruction of intersections with overhead transmission lines will be divided between 4-5 procurements, and 2-3 procurements will be organised for the reconstruction of gas pipes.

Rail Baltica is an environmentally-friendly and convenient railway connection that links Estonia to its southern neighbours and Central Europe. The new infrastructure allows passengers to travel from Tallinn to Pärnu and Riga in 40 minutes and two hours, respectively.

Elering is an independent electricity and gas system operator, whose main duty is to guarantee high-quality energy supply to Estonian consumers.