Airport, EU – Baltic States, Railways, Transport

The study outlines a service description, a high-level forecast of usage, and recommendations for the detailed design for railway stations, covering all 7 international Rail Baltica passenger stations -- Tallinn, Parnu, Riga, Riga Airport, Panevezys, Kaunas and Vilnius, RB Rail said.

The study recommends that future Rail Baltica should provide combined air-rail ticketing solutions by promoting integrated cooperation between rail operators and airlines, and provide fully integrated baggage services, available at the seven international Rail Baltica stations. Rail Baltica should also seek to ensure IATA coding of its international stations.

In order to ensure a unified service standard and functionality, the necessary infrastructural configurations should be provided at all international Rail Baltica stations.

"The integrated solutions proposed in the study are supported by key Baltic aviation stakeholders, including commercial operators, and are in line with global best practice which has been extensively benchmarked as part of the study," Timo Riihimaki, CEO of RB Rail, said.

Riihimaki added that it is, therefore, strongly recommended that Rail Baltica capitalizes on its unique greenfield opportunity by ensuring the appropriate railway design adaptations to enable the recommended functionalities and integrated services to be performed during the Rail Baltica operational phase, following the relevant operator-level business case assessments.

Furthermore, the study also details key infrastructure requirements to be implemented in the design of Rail Baltica stations to enable optimum air-rail intermodality, including check-in, baggage drop and baggage storage facilities; baggage transfer solutions between rail station platform, and airport storage and station safety elements.

Also described in the study are passenger information services, showing both flight and train information at airport stations, with train information made available to airports for their use, as well as specific requirements regarding future high-speed railway rolling stock design to enable optimum air-rail integration.