At the end of last year, Latvian Railways (LDz) completed the “Track Reconstruction” project. The project included the replacement of deteriorated track components which caused serious speed limits and “the bottleneck” effect in many places.

The total cost of the project was 45.3 million euros, of which 33.7 million was financed by the European Union Cohesion Fund, and 11.6 million by Latvian Railways.

“Our task is to ensure qualitative and modern rail traffic for the interests of Latvia`s national economy. Therefore, LDz is investing its own resources and the European Union funding in the development of the railway sector,” said LDz Acting Chairman of the Board Aivars Strakšas.

As a result of the implementation of this project, traffic speed, security and throughput capacity of the East-West corridor sections were increased to ensure smooth freight flow through the ports of Latvia and in transit on the state territory, and the reduction of track noise levels and the risk of environmental pollution, which can arise due to the condition of the track.

Within the project the main track materials (rails, sleepers with fastenings, ballasts) were replaced, the ballast layer decontaminated and new ballast added, the subgrade reformed, railway track completely straightened and levelled, the engineering technical constructions and railway crossings renovated, and railway land cleaned.

From 2014 to 2015, 93.8 km of deteriorated track superstructure were completely reconstructed.

The rails were provided by “SIGMEN” LLC, the track ballast by Ražošanas komercfirma “M2” LLC and reinforced concrete sleepers with elastic fastenings by TRACK TEC S.A. The construction work was carried out by “LDz infrastruktūra” LLC.

(Source: LDz)