Ramboll involved in Rail Baltica station development

Rail Baltica is a greenfield rail transport infrastructure project with a goal of integrating the Baltic states into the European rail network, providing passenger and freight services between countries, and improving rail connections between Central and Northern Europe. It will be established as a new, publicly owned railway line with a maximum speed of 249 km/h for passenger trains. Rail Baltica is jointly owned by the three Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The stations in the scope of the project are Tallinn Ülemiste, Pärnu, Riga Central Station and Riga Airport, Panevėžys, Kaunas and Vilnius.

“We are a strong consortium with a lot to bring to the project. To ensure that the railway stations support economic growth and social sustainability, we should not just think of them as transport hubs ‒ they can be destinations in themselves”, says Tommi Eskelinen, Ramboll Project Lead.

Making the Transport hub a Destination

Well-planned and well-designed railway stations can be an integrated part of their neighbourhood. The stations add value not only as transport hubs but also as a vital core of the surrounding community with a wide service structure. Therefore, the project embraces the commercial and urban development of the railway stations and their immediate neighbourhoods, and mobility aspects, such as accessibility and connectivity to other means of transport, including public transport, cycling, e-mobility and pedestrian traffic.

The project will also be looking into effective use of the internal and external layout of railway passenger stations in terms of commercial and daily operational structures as well as commercial opportunities and social activities.

“To reach their full potential, the railway stations need to be integrated into the urban mobility system. It is integral that we do this from a sustainable transit-oriented development perspective where railway stations act as multimodal hubs. We will also be analysing potential synergies with transit-oriented facilities located at functional distances from the railway stations”, says Inge Fredslund, Head of Rail & Metro at Gottlieb Paludan Architects.

“The railway stations will play a catalytic role in terms of their surrounding environment. One of the most important aspects of locating the railway station is to incorporate the planning of the railway station into the urban planning strategies”, says Stefan Oschner, Soini & Horto Architects.

“We will be analysing the functionality of the railway stations as integrated elements of the urban environment and its role in the regeneration of urban areas”, says Mika Korhonen from Realidea.

The project was initiated in June 2021 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.