On 20 July 2022, the parties involved in the Rail Baltica Central Hub solemnly embedded a time capsule in the foundations of the new station building grounds, with a message for the future generations.
The time capsule was already prepared on September 21, 2021, in the presence of the Head Director-General of the European Commission’s department for Mobility and Transport, the Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Communications in Estonia and the Minister of Transport in Latvia as well as the management of Rail Baltica delivery organizations, containing messages and commemorative symbols for the future generations.
On July 20, 2022, the time capsule was supplemented with symbolic messages provided by the representatives of the Riga City Council and the project’s builders, the general association BERERIX – of whom BESIX is a member. BERERIX inserted a copy of the newspaper of the day and two pieces of art from the children's drawing competition it organised in May 2022, visualising today's children's predictions of what the future Rail Baltica train station in Riga would look like.
A project of strategic importance
“Currently, Rail Baltica construction site at the Riga Central Station is making visible progress – every day we can witness how Rail Baltica is becoming a real infrastructure. A modern railway connection of the Baltic States with Western Europe is especially important now, during the Russia’s war in Ukraine, and the new railway is becoming another security link for us,” said Transport Minister Tālis Linkaits.
Care for all stakeholders
“We are pleased that in this part of the Rail Baltica project, the involvement of the future users of the project, or the public, is of great importance. More than 80% of suggestions from the public and NGOs in the context of functionality and accessibility solutions have been considered based on rational discussions, and more than 90% of design work has been completed. Therefore, we can safely and confidently start the construction of the station. In our time capsule message, we highlighted this important aspect of cooperation with society, because only by respecting the interests of future users, high-quality international professionals can achieve a good result,” says Guntis Āboltiņš-Āboliņš, Managing director of BERERIX.
The new station has the potential to become Riga’s business card. It will be modern, meet international requirements, be safe, sustainable and, no less important, fit successfully into the Riga skyline.
More about the project
BERERIX, consisting of BESIX and SIA RERE BŪVE, has been awarded the contract to design and build the Rail Baltica Central Station project in Riga, including the new central station building as well as a major railway bridge on the Daugava river, the railway embankments and track works.
Financed by the European Union and the Republic of Latvia, the contract was awarded on 29 May 2019 by Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas (EDzL), an executive agency of the Latvian Ministry of Transport.
The project is part of the larger Rail Baltica Project, that will integrate the Baltic States in the European rail network and connect the cities of Helsinki, Tallinn, Riga, Vilnius and Warsaw. It is the largest infrastructure project in the Baltic region for 100 years.