The infrastructure design for the Kaunas Passenger Station area will be carried out by the Spanish company Ardanuy Ingenieria under a contract worth EUR 9.88 million (excluding VAT). The project is an integral part of the new European Rail Baltica Kaunas node. Among the tasks for the contractor is the design of a new railway bridge over the Nemunas River.

LTG Infra, the company implementing Rail Baltica in Lithuania, and Ardanuy Ingenieria signed a design services contract last week. The task is expected to be completed within 1.5 years. The design will be prepared in the context of the infrastructure development plan for the Kaunas railway node, which was approved by the Government this year.

"With the implementation of the Rail Baltica project, the territory of Kaunas railway station will become a key centre where train connections will be organised both on the broad gauge and the European railway track. This means that passenger flows from both Europe and the other Baltic states will increase significantly. It will undoubtedly become an impulse for both the city itself and Kaunas region to make the most of the opportunities to become a tourist attraction centre," said Mr Vytis Žalimas, CEO of LTG Infra. "The designers are also tasked with designing the station area in such a way that the station's capacity would have room for expansion in the long term and passengers would be able to travel comfortably," he added.

A new bridge over the Nemunas River will be designed to increase train traffic capacity, to be built next to the existing Kaunas Žaliasis Railway Bridge. Ardanuy Ingenieria will also design arrival and departure tracks and platforms adapted to Rail Baltica. The company will also prepare designs for the reconstruction works, including the renewal of the existing pedestrian viaducts over the station and the underground pedestrian crossing for access to the platforms.

Most of the design work will be carried out on the territory of the existing Kaunas station. It is expected that construction works will start as soon as the technical working design of the Kaunas Railway Station and its approaches is ready, and the building permit is obtained.

With Rail Baltica fostering about 300 partnerships with companies across the Baltic states and the EU, including five from Spain, such as Ineco, Renfe, Prontec, AECOM, IDOM. For global Rail Baltica project there is more than 4.7bn EUR of suppliers' contracts already signed. Spain's active involvement and interest in the industry, given its progress and long-standing involvement in high-speed rail, enriches the Rail Baltica project.

Rail Baltica is the largest railway infrastructure project in the history of the Baltic states. It will see the construction of an electrified, European-standard double-track railway connecting Warsaw, Kaunas, Vilnius, Panevėžys, Riga, Pärnu and Tallinn. The total length of the Rail Baltica line in the Baltics is 870 km: 392 km in Lithuania, 265 km in Latvia, and 213 km in Estonia.