Whether construction of the railroad beyond Turba will continue in the near future is currently unknown, however money for the design of the route has been earmarked in the state budget bill, the paper writes.

Construction along the old railroad embankment began with deforestation work in January, after which a track bed was established; rail installation began on June 6. The 6.1-kilometer section of rail along with a plant for transforming and carrying electric power for train haulage was completed in September.

Chief project manager Urmas Leinfeld said that activity prior to construction began in spring 2017 already, when a schematic design was drawn up and procurement announced for an environmental impact assessment.

"We were able to conduct the environmental impact assessment very quickly," Leinfeld said. "In July 2018, ten months after the initiation of the assessment, the final report of the environmental impact assessment was deemed compliant. In February 2018, we launched a public procurement for finding a railroad designer, railroad projects were completed in October 2018, and building permits for the railroad were issued in December."

In October 2018, a €2.2 million contract was concluded with Czech company Elektrizace zeleznic Praha a.s. for the design and construction of the new Riisipere traction substation. Altogether three main contractor agreements were concluded that December.

"These were the contract for the design and construction of the platform at the Turba station with AS GRK Infra, the agreement for the construction of the railroad and civil engineering works with GoTrack OÜ, and the contract for the design and construction of the Riisipere-Turba plant for transforming and carrying electric power for train haulage with joint bidders Winco OY and AS GRK Infra," the chief project manager said.

Construction work was completed in September. Since then, a conformity assessment by the EU has also been conducted, and the issuance of final authorization for use is underway.

Final work, testing to be done

"Over the course of November, crossing automatics will be installed and tested and connected with Riisipere station's new traffic management system," Leinfeld said. "This work will be conducted by Mipro OY. The final budget is approximately €7.72 exclusive of VAT."

The projected speed along the Riisipere-Turba section is 140 kilometers per hour. Regular rail traffic along the new section is scheduled to open on Dec. 8.

-

Download the ERR News app for Android and iOS now and never miss an update!