The Estonian Railway electrification project is moving forward

Three years ago, the Estonian government decided that by the end of 2028, most of the Estonian Railway’s infrastructure should be electrified ‒ equipped with an overhead contact lines. The first important intermediate stage in the project is to electrify the railway until Tartu by the end of 2024.

The technical solution for electrification project has already been completed, and the preparation of preliminary designs for the Aegviidu-Tapa-Tartu overhead contact network and traction power substations is nearing completion. These are important prerequisites to the next activities of the project, the main one being the procurement. The aim is to procure in the second half of this year and sign contracts by the end of the year. The scope of the procurement is special, as its goal is to simultaneously obtain Aegviidu-Tapa-Tartu catenary network and traction power substation work projects and the construction and operation/maintenance services for those.

The procurement is large-scale and the schedule time-consuming ‒ these factors also have a significant impact on the requirements for tenderers. Potential bidders must have experience relevant to the scope of the project, technological readiness, and the ability to provide maintenance services for the catenary and substations after construction. Therefore, it can be said that in order to participate in the procurement, those interested, are likely to have to find partners with whom to cover all the necessary parts of the project. The main required competencies are related to the design, construction and maintenance of the overhead contact lines and traction power substations.

Building an overhead contact network up to 200 kilometres and several traction substations in two years is a real challenge, but given the international experience, it is doable.

Public procurement requirements set limits to sharing information. At the same time, we are interested in keeping potential partners informed about our project. Companies, who are interested to get information about the project, can send their contact information (name of the company and contact person, phone number and e-mail) to electrification@evr.ee.

(Source: https://evr.ee/en/news/3141-the-estonian-railway-electrification-project-is-moving-forward)