Rail Baltic Estonia has launched a procurement procedure for the detailed design and construction of a rolling stock depot in Rae Parish. Bids will be accepted until March 10, 2026, with the contract signed by the end of April and construction completion scheduled for December 31, 2028. The estimated project cost is EUR 41.33 million excluding VAT. If the schedule is met, construction of the depot will begin in late 2026, and the facility will be handed over to Rail Baltic Estonia by the end of 2028.
As Lauri Ulm, Technical Director and Member of the Management Board of Rail Baltic Estonia, noted, the depot is crucial for the operation of Rail Baltica in terms of both system reliability and occupancy. The new facility will allow for the simultaneous servicing of up to six high-speed trains or up to twelve regional trains, consolidating all rolling stock maintenance and readiness functions within a single complex. The project envisions the creation of 150–200 permanent, highly skilled jobs, and the depot itself will become a center of excellence for train repair and maintenance in the Baltic region.
The depot building will consist of two main parts: a central hall for train maintenance and repair, and a three-story administrative block. The interior will house eight tracks, six of which are service tracks, with a total useful length of 1,380 meters, as well as separate tracks for train washing and a lathe for wheel set machining. An additional six tracks will be located in the open area for cleaning, equipping, and storing trains, doubling the complex’s overall capacity. The depot’s first user will be national passenger operator Elron, which will operate the facility and associated services under a lease agreement.