EUROPE: Rail Baltica project promoter RB Rail has awarded a joint venture of Civitta Estonia and Railistics a €140 000 contract to undertake a feasibility study for a freight terminal at Pärnu in Estonia. ETC Transport Consultants, Ernst & Young Baltic and AECOM had also bid for the contract.
The study to be completed by the end of the year will analyse options for the terminal and provide market study with projected freight handling volumes to 2055.
‘This study will help us better understand the economic importance of Pärnu as part of the railway line design in the context of freight transport’, said Aivar Jaeski, RB Rail Country Manager for Estonia & Finland, when the contract was signed on July 24. ‘Owing to the fact that the construction of Rail Baltica is a large-scale project that influences the economic environment of all three Baltic States, our decision making in the design and construction phase has to follow the cost-effectiveness principle. Each study will bring us closer to finding optimal solutions.’
- On July 13 the EU’s Innovation & Networks Executive Agency, Rail Baltica and the three national transport ministries signed a third Connecting Europe Facility grant agreement, worth €110m.
