Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS has awarded a 38.31 million euro contract to DB Engineering & Consulting for design and supervision on the southernmost section of the Baltic high-speed corridor.
Rail Baltica’s joint venture company RB Rail AS has awarded a 38.31 million euro design and supervision contract for the 96-kilometre section linking the Lithuania–Poland border to Kaunas (Jiesia), marking another step forward on the EU’s flagship high-speed corridor. The deal, procured through a competitive public tender, was signed together with LTG Infra, Lithuania’s national project implementer, and Germany’s DB Engineering & Consulting.
Acting Transport Minister Eugenijus Sabutis called the cross-border section Lithuania’s “gateway to the West” and the first likely route for European-standard high-speed services. LTG Group CEO Egidijus Lazauskas described the Polish border link as a priority, with early design work already mapped out for key segments. Preparatory tenders for construction are planned to follow in advance to accelerate the build-out.
DB’s long-standing role in the project
The engineering arm of Deutsche Bahn has been embedded in Rail Baltica for nearly a decade, contributing to the Shadow Operator consortium and designing flagship infrastructure such as the region’s first dual road-rail bridge over the Daugava River in Riga. For the new contract, DB will design an electrified double-track railway from the border through Marijampolė to Kaunas, connecting with the existing Rail Baltica freight line and incorporating signalling and traffic control systems to support both passenger and military mobility operations.
Marius Narmontas, Lithuania’s Rail Baltica representative, stressed Poland’s role as the only project country with a fully operational 1435 mm network, providing the essential link to the rest of Europe. Most of the Polish section is already upgraded, with the remaining stretch to Lithuania in design, which will allow for synchronised completion on both sides of the border.
Lithuania builds Rail Baltica momentum, Latvia lags
The award follows Lithuania’s earlier August announcement of 235 million euros in embankment contracts to push the main corridor north toward Latvia, as well as near-19 km of earthworks south of Kaunas. While Lithuania now has rail-laying, materials, and major civil works in motion, Latvia’s delays continue to cast doubt on the wider Warsaw–Tallinn timeline. Arenijus Jackus, Lithuania’s representative on the supervisory board of RB Rail, recently warned that even a minimal operational line by 2030 — with track, electrification, and signalling in place — “cannot be guaranteed.”
And Latvian officials now openly admit their section will likely not be finished before 2035. Out of 200 km of planned route in Latvia, only 43 km have been designed, with the remainder lacking both documentation and financing. MPs in Riga estimate the country needs 2.7 billion euros to complete its stretch, but up to 1 billion euros in EU co-financing is at risk, as it is conditional on Rail Baltica being operational by 2030.
