Construction of 1st railway bridge of Estonian portion of Rail Baltic to begin

TALLINN - Rail Baltic Estonia and contractor AS TREF Nord have signed a contract for the construction of two major structures of the Rail Baltic in Estonia: the Rae viaduct and the Vaskjala railway bridge, worth 7.3 million euros combined.

The viaduct and the bridge will be completed at the end of next year. Construction work will start as soon as possible. 

Rasid Pulatov, chief technical officer of Rail Baltic Estonia, described both structures as important.

"The purpose of one of them is to ensure the connection between Lake Ulemiste and the Vaskjala reservoir, while the purpose of the other is to maintain the connection provided by the Assaku-Juri road," Pulatov said, adding that the Vaskjala bridge is the first railway bridge to be built in Estonia.

The Rae viaduct, which will cross the future Rail Baltic railway, will preserve the connection between Rae village and Juri town. The viaduct will be 81 meters long and 15 meters wide. Along with the construction of the viaduct and the road, an illuminated bicycle and pedestrian path will be built. Traffic will not be diverted during the works, and it is the contractor's responsibility to ensure the passability of the road for all road users.

European gauge trains will run over the Ulemiste-Vaskjala water supply canal on the Vaskjala railway bridge, a structure that will be 35 meters wide and 53 meters long.

"To date, Rail Baltic crossing facilities have been completed for 42 million euros. Today, six facilities worth altogether 24 million euros are under active construction, 10 more facilities worth a total of 62 million euros are under construction or contract preparation, and one facility worth 1.7 million euros is in procurement. This will make a significant contribution to the infrastructure construction market and the wider economy already next year," Pulatov added.