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Cost of additional Rail Baltica branch to Vilnius estimated at EUR 850 mln

BC, Vilnius, 14.10.2014.Print version
Minister of Transport and Communications in Lithuania Rimantas Sinkevicius has informed that the joint enterprise of the three Baltic States for the Rail Baltica 2 railway construction is going to be established in Riga on 28 October, whereas preliminary cost of additional branch from Kaunas to Vilnius is estimated at EUR 850 million, writes LETA/ELTA.

The cost includes railway construction, adaptation of the surrounding infrastructure, land purchase from private owners and additional feasibility studies.

 

"It is very hard to give an estimate as long as there is no study. The actual price or the market price will be determined during the tendering procedure," said the minister and added that the cost is not expected to reach EUR 1 billion.

 

The minister was unable to tell whether the link would be financed from EU structural funds for 2014-2020. "We shall submit the application now but it is difficult to expect funding in this period," the minister said.

 

Arnis Kakulis, representative of AECOM, the company that carried out Rail Baltica 2 feasibility study, informed that Vilnius-Kaunas connection project was analysed based on the same methodology as the whole project's study in 2011. According to Kakulis, the connection will considerably improve communication between Vilnius and Kaunas airports.






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