Procurement of Rail Baltica high-speed railway electrification started / Article

Procurement of the design and construction of the energy subsystem on a consolidated basis, from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border and from Kaunas to Vilnius, is the largest railway electrification project in Europe to be implemented as a single project. According to RB Rail, such an approach will allow full compliance with safety and interoperability requirements, as well as additional benefits from economies of scale and greater environmental benefits.

The procurement will be organized in two stages and is planned to be completed by the end of 2023. The main components of the energy subsystem project include the following components: high voltage transmission lines for the connection of railway traction substations to the public high voltage networks, railway traction substations, overhead contact line system and energy control command system and other components directly related to the energy subsystem.

Jean-Marc Bedmar, Head of Systems and Operations at RB Rail, said this was the first time that procurement of this scale and scope had been organized in three European countries to provide a single energy subsystem with uniform maintenance rules and interoperability requirements in several countries.

In practice, this approach also implies the need to address the challenges of cross-border sections, and Rail Baltica has three cross-border sections – between Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. The total length of the double track is 870 kilometers, which means that more than 2,000 kilometers of catenary, about 4,350 tonnes of copper material and about 50,000 masts will be needed. The electricity consumed by Rail Baltica will be 900 gigawatt hours per year, which will increase the country’s electricity consumption by 3%.

“Planning a large cross-border railway electrification project throughout Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, connected to Poland, requires close co-operation between public authorities, convincingly involving electricity transmission system operators and electricity suppliers, while maximizing the project’s contribution to EU energy and transport policy; implementation of the green course and national decarbonisation plans, ”said Bedmar. He pointed out that for several years and before the European Green Course, the Rail Baltica project had been analyzing the environmental impact of a railway line in terms of the energy consumed by traction. “Strict conditions for reducing environmental impact are an integral part of Rail Baltica’s electrification. For example, the total traction chain will have an energy efficiency of more than 85% and the components will have a lifespan of 50 years or more,” added Bedmar.

The innovative traction power supply technology chosen in the project – static frequency converter (SFC) technology – is also one of the ways to ensure flexible and efficient system integration between countries.

CONTEXT:

Development of the energy supply subsystem in the Rail Baltica project implemented by an association of undertakingsconsisting of DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH; IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture, SAU and Italferr SpA for a total contract amount of EUR 23.2 million.

The Rail Baltica project envisages the creation of a European standard gauge railway line from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border, so that the Baltic States can be further connected to other European countries by rail. In the Baltic States, it is planned to build a new 870-kilometer-long European gauge railway line (1,435 millimeters) with a maximum train speed of 240 kilometers per hour.

Rail Baltica is expected to costs will reach 5.8 billion euros, including the branch decided to be built between Kaunas and Vilnius. Part of the costs will be covered by European Union funds. It is planned that the Rail Baltica railway line will be ready for traffic in 2026.

–