Construction, EU – Baltic States, Lithuania, Railways, Transport

The awards are organized annually by the magazine Baltic Transport Journal.

"I am glad that our work was evaluated positively. Rail Baltica is a strategic European transport infrastructure project. The project will allow developing the European transport corridors and creating favourable conditions for mobility and logistics throughout both European Union and Eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. In current political context, this project represents even more, that is the national security. Contemporary, we need an efficient European gauge rail link to the rest of the EU transport network," said Lithuania's Minister of Transport and Communications Rimantas Sinkevicius.

According to Dainius Budrys, head of Rail Baltica Statyba, the project Rail Baltica 2 is the largest and most expensive transport infrastructure project to be implemented after the independence of the Baltic States.

"The establishment of the joint venture of the three Baltic States was the first and very important step forward. In still short lifetime of the joint venture, we managed to go even further; namely, a joint application of the three Baltic States for the EU funding is already submitted. I sincerely hope that our work and efforts will be acknowledged, and after few years the end of the project's implementation, which was initiated with the joint venture, will be closer. Currently, the most important task is to take evident action for the implementation of the project," said Budrys.

The joint venture of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia RB Rail was established in last October. The parts own one third of the company's shares. It will manage the procedures of implementation in each country, coordinate the development of the project and provide administrative services. It will control the international project Rail Baltica – a European gauge railway connecting the Baltic countries, Finland and Poland. The latter countries are also invited to join the joint venture. The project is expected to be completed by 2024, with a connection from Lithuanian-Polish border to Tallinn.