Gottlieb Paludan Architects, Ramboll, Realidea, Architects Soini & Horto, and Ardenis are working together to identify how to maximise local value creation from the seven international passenger stations along the Rail Baltica. 

Rail Baltica is a green infrastructure project with a goal of integrating the Baltic states into the European rail network, providing passenger and cargo services between countries, and improving rail connections between Central and Northern Europe. It will be established as a new, publicly owned railway line with a maximum speed of 249 km/h for passenger trains. Rail Baltica is jointly owned by the three Baltic states Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The stations in the scope of the project are Tallinn Ülemiste, Pärnu, Riga Central Station and Riga Airport, Panevėžys, Kaunas and Vilnius. 

The well-planned and well-designed railway stations can be an integrated part of their neighbourhood. The stations add value not only as transport hubs but also as a vital core of the surrounding community with a wide service structure. Therefore, the project embraces the commercial and urban development of the railway stations and their neighbourhoods, and mobility aspects, such as accessibility and connectivity to other means of transport, including public transport, cycling, e-mobility and pedestrian traffic. 

The project also looks into effective use of the internal and external layout of railway passenger stations in terms of commercial and daily operational structures as well as commercial opportunities and social activities. 

Inge Fredslund, Head of Metro & Railway at Gottlieb Paludan Architects says “To reach their full potential, the railway stations need to be integrated into the urban mobility system. It is essential that we do this from a sustainable transit-oriented development perspective where railway stations act as multimodal hubs. We will also be analysing potential synergies with transit-oriented facilities located at functional distances from the railway stations”.

Gottlieb Paludan Architects can draw on many years of experience with similar mobility and infrastructure projects - including the current Borgarlínan project in Reykjavik; a so-called ‘Bus Rapid Transit’ system, where focus is on designing a clear, local identity that contributes positively to the green transition and to the creation of functional urban spaces. Gottlieb Paludan Architects is also responsible for establishing connections between the existing and future train and metro lines on Ny Ellebjerg Station in Copenhagen to create a well-functioning central hub.

The project was initiated in June 2021 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2021.

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