Estonian Railways is actively working on the electrification and straightening of the Tapa-Tartu section, which should be completed by the end of the summer of 2025. From next year, however, the work will also move to the east, and a public tender has been announced for the straightening and overhaul of the Tapa-Narva railway line, for which bids are expected until December 17.
“The goal of Estonian Railways is to start work on the electrification of the Tapa-Narva railway line and to increase the speed limit to 160 km/h next year. In order to achieve this goal, the curves with a radius of less than 1300 m remaining on the line must be straightened,” commented Imre Reipõld, head of the construction service of Estonian Railways.
According to him, the curves will be straightened at the stations between Tapa-Kadrina, Püssi-Kohtla and Jõhvi-Oru, in addition, the geometry of the road will be corrected along with the replacement of the superstructure between the stations Kiviõli-Püssi, and major repairs will be made between the stations Soldina-Narva, totaling about 10.5 km. As a result of the works, the railway line will be shortened by 176.6 m, and the new route will shift the most compared to the existing one at the Püssi–Kohtla straightening, where the shift is approx. 411 m. At the seventh station, the existing turns on the main road will be replaced with concrete turns that allow faster passage through the station.
In order to create the prerequisites for electrification, seven stations will be partially reconstructed, the keyword of which is recycling. Namely, used material taken from the main road is used in the reconstruction of station roads.
In addition, new culverts under the railway will be built, two railway crossings will be reconstructed, safety fences will be installed, and communications ahead will be raised. A new waiting platform and a park&travel parking lot will be built at Oru station.
On the largest 3.2 km long straightening of the Püssi–Kohtla line, which passes through RMK’s properties, construction preparatory work began already this summer, where RMK carried out the clearing of the route at the new location. The implementation of the main construction works is planned for 2025 and 2026, and the electrified railway line with a speed of 160 km/h should be completed in 2027. Construction activities remain within the administrative area of nine municipalities.
The project is co-financed by the European Union and the state of Estonia from the income from trading in greenhouse gas emission units.
