The winner of the first part of the procurement will be responsible for building the railway and other superstructures between Tallinn and Pärnu, where the embankments and other structures are already completed. Between Tootsi and Pärnu, which still lacks a finalized project and where embankments have not yet been built, the winner will also be responsible for getting these done in addition to the railway construction itself.

RBE CEO Anvar Salomets said that sections of the railway were divided into two parts based on their construction readiness, so to speak. He added that while the master plan for the Tootsi-Pärnu section is not yet complete, a "relatively good quality" project is nonetheless already in place.

"The project consists of a number of drawings that the next contractor will need to refine," Salomets explained. "The Tootsi-Pärnu section presents a very good opportunity, because we want to optimize certain technical solutions there; they're a bit 'robust' for our liking. And this will provide an opportunity while under scheduling pressure to make certain things there a bit simpler, as well as cheaper."

The second part of the procurement covers the 58-kilometer stretch between Pärnu and Ikla, and will involve drawing up its project, construction of its embankments and structures as well as construction of the superstructure itself, i.e. the railway.

According to the procurement documents, construction will take place from 2026-2030. Rail Baltica must be fully operational by November 2030.

This schedule, however, doesn't include so-called risk buffers, meaning if the procurement process should end up being delayed by disputes, for example, then that will also affect the final deadline for completing the railway.

The winners of the procurements are slated to be announced next April.

The estimated price tag for the construction of the railway between Tallinn and Pärnu is €394 million; the section between Pärnu and Ikla, where there is more work still to be done, is expected to cost €332 million. An additional just over €200 million has been earmarked for the purchasing of materials, including rails, railroad ties and track ballast.

RBE has decided to split the project into two work contracts. The first of these contracts includes the construction of the railway superstructure between Ülemiste and Pärnu and the design and substructure work – including surveys, permits, structures and embankments – of the railway between Tootsi and Pärnu. The second will cover the comprehensive project design and construction of the railway from Pärnu to Ikla – including surveys, permits, structures, embankments and superstructures.

This is a so-called alliance project, in which the alliance will consist of the contracting entity, i.e. Rail Baltic Estonia, and the winner or winners of the procurement. The procurement documents note that the alliance is a project delivery model in which the parties will take joint responsibility for the preparation and implementation of the project as a united organization, sharing the benefits and risks of the project and aiming for continuous improvement throughout the contract period.

Embankment construction may end up down to the wire

Minister of Infrastructure Vladimir Svet (SDE) recently wrote to his Latvian and Lithuanian counterparts that Estonia may bring the Tallinn-Pärnu section of the Rail Baltic railway into operation as early as 2028 or 2029.

In addition to the fact that the railway is being planned to be put into service by the end of 2030, the procurement documents further reveal that it is likely that not all substructures, i.e. embankments, between Tallinn and Pärnu will even be completed by the end of 2028.

The CEO of RBE noted that the missing sections could likely be finished "just a tad" sooner.

"One procurement is already underway, and we'll be announcing the second one any day now," Salomets said. "At least our internal procedures and approvals for that are in place. The superstructure on top of that [will take] roughly one construction season, which brings us already to the first or second quarter of 2029."

Currently, winners have been determined for the most part for substructure construction procurements, and construction is underway.

Work on the Ülemiste-Soodevahe, Saku-Harju County border, Harju County border-Loone, Loone-Hagudi and Hagudi-Alu sections of the railway are expected to be completed by 2027. Work on the Soodevahe-Kangru, Kangru-Saku anad Alu-Kärpla sections, meanwhile, is slated to be completed by 2028, with the last of these to be wrapped up in the third quarter.

Construction permits have been issued for the Kärpla-Selja and Selja-Tootsi sections of the railway, however procurements for these sections have yet to be announced.

The project design for the main route between Tootsi and Pärnu, meanwhile, remains a work in progress, and the winners of the large-scale tender will have to complete it themselves as well as build the section's embankments. Planning of the Pärnu-Kabli and Kabli–Estonian-Latvian border is conditional on the adoption of the Rail Baltica Pärnu County plan, which is expected in the first quarter of next year.

Pärnu, Ülemiste terminals not part of large-scale procurement

Construction permits have already been issued for the passenger terminal and accompanying outdoor areas in Pärnu. This year, the Transport Administration will be building a pedestrian underpass for Liivi tee which in the future will connect the terminal area with Papiniidu tänav.

RBE wants to develop the passenger terminal area gradually in order to avoid significant initial construction costs. The project design and construction procurements for the Pärnu terminal are not part of the newly announced procurement.

Likewise not included in the nearly billion-euro procurement is the construction of the Ülemiste passenger terminal in Tallinn. Ülemiste Terminal is slated to be built in several stages, and is expected to be completed in 2028.

Detailed plans and project design work for the railway's local stops are either underway or already in their final stages.

The Ülemiste rolling stock depot, meanwhile, is still in the design phase. In the first stage, the depot will be built at reduced capacity in cooperation with Estonian passenger rail operator Elron; in subsequent stages, Elron plans to build a new depot toward the north.

In cooperation with the Land Board and the Ministry of Climate, RBE is still working on land acquisition. The land acquisition process is already underway between Ülemiste and Tootsi, and the land allocation plans needed for land acquisition between Tootsi and Pärnu are currently in the process of being drawn up. The land acquisition process has yet to be initiated between Pärnu and Kabli.

Rail Baltica will be built as a double-track railway, but in the first stage will be built with a single track. The main route is divided into three project design sections: Tallinn-Rapla, Rapla-Tootsi and Tootsi–Estonian-Latvian border.

The Rail Baltica project includes passenger terminals at Ülemiste and in Pärnu, a freight terminal in Muuga, a freight terminal together with an infrastructure maintenance center in Pärnu, a dry port together with another infrastructure maintenance center in Soodevahe, a rolling stock depot at Ülemiste, 12 local stops, more than 100 railroad crossings, approximately 36 wildlife crossings, junctions with gas pipelines and high-voltage power lines and approximately 21.5 kilometers of noise barriers.

The Estonian portion of Rail Baltica will be 213 kilometers long.

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