EUROPE: Rail Baltica project promoter RB Rail has commissioned a consortium of infrastructure development experts and architects to recommend how to promote long-term value creation in and around the seven international stations on the future line.
The study is to be undertaken by Ramboll, Gottlieb Paludan Architects, Soini&Horto Architects, Realidea and Ardenis Consult under a €194 250 contract.
It will include benchmarking of some of the most successful global transport hubs, to understand the spatial, functional, commercial, operational and governance factors which drive the creation of socio-economic value at stations and in their immediate urban environments.
The final report to be submitted at the end of this year will provide a comprehensive set of recommendations to support the development of the Rail Baltica stations at Tallinn Ülemiste, Pärnu, Riga Central, Riga International Airport, Panevėžys, Kaunas and Vilnius.
‘Many famous station redevelopment projects — from Utrecht to Wien, from Paris Austerlitz to Helsinki Pasila — have demonstrated that modern multimodal mobility needs can be put at the heart of ambitious transformational developments that reshape urban landscapes, improve liveability and unlock new long-term development catalysts, not least around the principles of sustainability and circular economy’, said RB Rail’s Head of Strategy & Development Kaspars Briškens on July 7.
‘Rail Baltica has seven such opportunities. We owe it to the next generations to capitalise on them.’
