LATVIA: Construction of a rail link from Imanta to Riga’s international airport as part of the Rail Baltica project is set to begin in May for completion in December 2025.
This follows the signing this month of a €237m construction contract with the BSL Infra consortium of Swietelsky and local partners SIA Binders and AS LNK Industries.
Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits said the airport rail link would strengthen Riga’s position as a Baltic aviation hub, providing easier access to the airport from Lithuania and Estonia as well as from across Latvia.
‘Mobility and convenience for passengers will be created: tracks, all systems and structures will be fully integrated into the existing airport infrastructure’, said Kaspars Vingris, Chairman of Latvia’s Rail Baltica project implementing body Eiropas Dzelzceļa Līnijas.
There is also an opportunity to expand cargo handling services, ‘as it will be possible to establish a freight rail connection to the airport’ which would ‘strengthen Latvia’s status as an international destination and transit country’.
The station has been designed by the PROSIV consortium of Syntagma of Italy, Prodex from Slovakia and local compnay Vector T, with the facade being inspired by traditional Latvian wooden architecture.
The station will be built on three levels, with the tracks entering the station on a 2 km long, 10 m high viaduct crossing several roads.
The ground floor of the station building will have road access and car and bicycle parking. The next level will have waiting areas, ticket offices, vending machines and information stands. The platforms will be on the top floor, with a half-hourly shuttle service offering an 8 min journey time to central Riga, as well as four daily inter-city services.
