Applicants named for 1st stage of Rail Baltica design and construction procurement

Credit: Rail Baltica

The Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS have announced that four international candidates have applied for the 1st stage of the Rail Baltica energy subsystem design and construction procurement, the largest railway electrification project in Europe implemented as a single project.

The associations of companies submitted their applications are partnership Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios S.A. (Cobra Instalaciones y Servicios S.A. and Elecnor Servicios y Proyectos S.A.U.) from Spain, association of legal entities ALSTOM-BMGS-GE-Torpol (BMGS AS, Bombardier Transportation Baltics SIA, Alstom Transport SA, GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS, TORPOL S.A.) from Latvia, France and Poland, association of legal entities STC Baltic Electrification (Colas Rail AS, Siemens Mobility GmbH, Siemens Mobility Oy Latvijas filiāle, TSO SAS) from France, Germany and Latvia, and Yapı Merkezi İnşaat ve Sanayı A.Ş. from Turkey.

“We are pleased to see the high interest and strong competition as the companies that have applied for the tender represent the largest and most-serious international market players of high-speed railway electrification,” Jean-Marc Bedmar, Head of Systems and Operations Department at RB Rail AS, said. “The proposed Rail Baltica electrification architecture is based on 2×25 kV Static Frequency Converters and, for the first time, is implemented in a project of such scale, providing flexible and efficient integration of railway energy subsystem between the countries. We will therefore need to be assured to get the most-competent support available in the global market.”

Prequalified candidates will be invited to submit technical and financial proposals by the end of 2022; the 2nd stage and proposal submission will be continuing in first half of 2023 with an aim to sign the contract by the end of 2023. In the beginning of 2021, RB Rail AS selected an engineering service provider for the Global project energy subsystem deployment. The association of DB Engineering & Consulting GmbH; IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture, S.A.U.; Italferr S.p.A. was announced as the winner in an international tender, carried out by RB Rail AS.

Rail Baltica high-speed railway electrification procurement was launched in the middle of 2022 and is considered as the largest railway cross-border electrification project in Europe implemented as a single project. It will allow full compliance with safety and interoperability requirements, benefit from economies of scale, as well as maximise the benefits for the environment.

The energy subsystem design and construction procurement scope cover the traction power substations, the overhead contact system, the energy control and command system, and other components directly linked to full functionality of energy subsystem. The scope of the project itself is impressive, overall 870km length of the double-track leads to the need for more than 2,000km of catenary system, around 4,350 tonnes of copper materials, 50,000 masts and 10 traction sub-stations to be installed.