Photo: COWI

East-West rail corridor, Latvia 

The project comprises replacement of 760 turnouts,which constitutes 26 % of the total turnouts on the East-West rail corridor. The corridor is 1095 km long and comprises 4 sections with a total of 3023 turnouts.
The East-West railway corridor is of vital importance for the economical development of Latvia. The major transit freight traffic is going by the East-West railway corridor through Latvia to Latvian ports Ventspils, Riga and Liepaja. The modernisation of the East-West railway corridor is therefore one of the highest priorities of the national transport policy of Latvia.

The objective of the project is the modernisation of the Latvian East-West railway corridor in order to cope with the growing freight traffic, maintain and improve the capacity of the rail lines, increase the traffic safety and reduce noise.
Photo: COWI

The sets of turnouts will be supplied in two lots for 390 turnouts each with 390 sets supplied in 2003-2005 and supply of 390 in 2005-2008.

Monitoring and consultancy

A COWI led project team monitors the implementation of the contract between the supplier of the turnouts VAE Gmbh (Austria) and Latvian Railways and reports on prototype acceptance, provisional acceptance, turnout installations and contract management. COWI will also assist in the preparation of future tenders for track turnouts.