EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Railways, Transport
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Saturday, 20.04.2024, 01:14
European Commission gives full approval to railway electrification project
So far, positive findings about the project and its economic
feasibility have been received also from the European Commission’s independent
technical assistance experts (JASPERS, Independent Quality Review), after which
the project was submitted to the European Commission for review.
After the European Commission’s approval, the project on the
Cohesion Fund’s co-funding for railway electrification will be approved by the
Central Finance and Contracting Agency, with which an agreement will be
concluded on the project’s implementation, The plan is to carry out the railway
electrification works using EUR 347 mln provided under the EU-funded project
(including EUR 318 mln available from the Cohesion Fund), as well as by raising
additional funding from the European Investment Bank.
SJSC Latvijas Dzelzceļš President
Edvins Berzins: “In August this year, Latvijas Dzelzceļš is marking
100 years since its founding, and I am glad that on the eve of this significant
event we have received the European Commission’s positive decision about the
entire railway electrification project. This decision allows for a strong
confidence that the backbone of Latvia’s passenger transportation system will
be a modern and environmentally-friendly railway. Moreover, it also marks another
step in Latvia’s path towards compliance with the European Union’s fundamental
principles aimed at developing an environmentally-friendly transport system and
will significantly promote Latvia’s international competitiveness in the
North-South and West-East transport corridors.”
A tender to carry out the design and construction works
planned in the first stage of the project concluded in the fall of 2018. Four
bids were received in the first (qualification) phase of the tender.
Considering the complexity of the project, LDz continues to assess the bids.
The first stage of the project will be implemented with the
support of the Cohesion Fund which is providing EUR 347 mln to the measure
6.2.1.1. “Electrification
of the Latvian railway network” with the 6.2.1. specific support
objective to provide a
competitive and environmentally-friendly TEN-T rail network, promoting its
safety, quality and capacity under the Cohesion
Fund’s Operational Program
“Growth and Jobs” of the European Union funds for the programming period
2014-2020.
To increase
transport efficiency, promote the use of environmentally-friendly technology in
line with the European Union’s requirements and national regulatory documents
(Transport Development Guidelines 2014-2020) concerning the development of the
main rail network and to boost the international competitiveness of the Latvian
railway transit corridor, LDz plans to use 2x25 kV alternative current for the
electrification of the main lines of the railway network. At present, electric
trains can only be used for passenger transportation, while freight is only
carried by diesel trains. As a result of the project, it will be possible to
use heavier trains weighing up to 9,000 gross tons, which will reduce freight
carriers’ costs per train kilometre.
The railway
electrification project is important not only for the transport and logistics
sector, but also for the global competitiveness of the Latvian economy.
Besides, it will provide a significant contribution to the protection of the
environment. It is planned to complete the railway electrification program in
several stages.
SJSC Latvijas Dzelzceļš (LDz) is the manager of
public railway infrastructure and the leading company in Latvijas Dzelzceļš
Group. The Group also includes six subsidiaries - JSC LatRailNet,
which determines infrastructure charges and is responsible for railway
infrastructure capacity allocation, LDZ CARGO Ltd., which provides
railway freight transportation and international passenger transportation
services, infrastructure construction and maintenance company LDZ
Infrastruktūra Ltd., rolling stock repair and maintenance company LDZ
Ritošā Sastāva Serviss, security company LDZ Apsardze Ltd., as well
as logistics company LDZ Loģistika Ltd.