NGE wins contract for railway construction in Estonia

The French construction group NGE has been selected, along with other Estonian, Finnish, and Swedish companies, to build the northern section of the Rail Baltica rail corridor, which is to link the three Baltic states as part of the European Union's "trans-European transport network."

The contract, worth €394 million - with an option to increase to €540 million - covers the construction of a 213 km railway line between the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and Pärnu in the south of the country.

NGE's share is estimated by the company at 40% of the total contract. "Winning the Rail Baltica contract is a key step in our expansion in Europe," NGE President Jean Bernadet said in the press release.

"This project is fully in line with our ambition to become a leading player in rail infrastructure in Europe," he added.

NGE has already won several major contracts for the construction of railway infrastructure in France and around the world.

It has been awarded the contract to build a 7-kilometer section with four new stations on the future line 15 of the Grand Paris Express in partnership with other companies, for a total of 1,4 billion euros.

In 2023, he also announced the construction of 330 km of high-speed train lines in Egypt to link Ain Sukhna on the Red Sea to Marsa Matrouh, 200 km from the Libyan border.

The Rail Baltica project, supported by the European Union, is one of the largest under development on the continent. The 870-km line is expected to connect the capitals of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, with service expected by 2030.

It is also about connecting this line to the rest of the European rail network, as the lines in the Baltic countries dating from the Soviet era are wider than those in other EU countries.

According to the NGE press release, "expected traffic in 2055 is estimated at between 4,7 and 7,1 million annual passengers."