The design of Rail Baltica's regional stops and station buildings will start from Rapla county. The construction of the stops is scheduled to begin in 2024.

One of the objectives of the launched procurement is to find a main contractor to type-design the crossings between three different modular station buildings and waiting platforms, which could also be used at Rail Baltica’s other local stops across Estonia. Secondly, the designer will make detailed planning for Rail Baltica’s local stops at Kohila, Rapla and Järvakandi, as well as the complete design up to the application for building permits. Planning and design of regional stops and stations in Pärnu and Harju County will be procured following the same procedure, although without procuring the complete designs of the station buildings.   

Taking into consideration the difference in population and the potential number of passengers, three architectural solutions for Rail Baltica's regional station buildings and connected infrastructure has been developed. They differ in scale, nature and price. The standard solution includes a waiting platform with referrals, screens and safety barriers, access roads and parking lots. In Rail Baltica Rapla stop a larger, so-called “landmark” type of station building is planned, which is the largest of the three modular solutions available.

“We want to start building the local stops and station buildings of Rail Baltica in Raplamaa in 2024 and this procurement will create strong preconditions for this,” said Tõnu Grünberg, CEO of the Rail Baltic Estonia.

According to Grünberg, it is reasonable to plan the completion of the stops right before the railway starts to operate in order to prevent the stops and station buildings being empty for a long time, on the other hand there are works that are reasonable to carry out together with the construction of the main route, such as the base structures of the platforms. “We have done a lot of preliminary work so that we can move on at a pace with the design and construction of Rail Baltica's local stops. With many local municipalities, cooperation agreements have been concluded to build the stops, and we hope that we can launch regional train service on Rail Baltica simultaneously with highspeed international service, ,” Grünberg added.

The winner of the procurement will probably be announced in July. The design of railway facilities, buildings and crossings, which do not require detailed planning, is intended to start immediately after  contract signing. In all other cases, the design process can be started after a detailed planning procedure, in which local residents are also expected to be involved.

“In future, Rail Baltica will give us not only a fast connection with Europe, but also an opportunity to promote life in rural areas. With 12 local stops, we will have a new fast and green railway that will bring Pärnu, Tallinn and also Rapla much closer to the neighbouring municipalities. I hope that in planning and designing the stops in Raplamaa, we will, in cooperation with local people, find the best solutions and knowledge that we can also apply to the design of the remaining regional stops,” said the Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Taavi Aas.

Detailed plans for Rail Baltica's local stops and the compilation of project solutions will be funded through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) instruments under the funding agreement concluded in 2020. The construction of local stops in Rail Baltica is planned to be funded by structural funds, according to the Government’s decision on 04.03.2021.