Rail Baltica opens bidding for Estonia rolling stock depot
Rail Baltic Estonia has launched a tender — opening bidding — for a design-and-build contract for a new rolling stock depot in Rae municipality (Harju County), intended to support future Rail Baltica passenger operations in Estonia.
The contract is estimated at EUR 41.3m, excluding VAT. Bids are due 10 March 2026. The company plans to sign the contract by end-April 2026, with completion targeted for 31 December 2028.
The depot is planned for the Soodevahe area and will be delivered as a single design-and-build contract. Construction would start at the end of 2026 if the process stays on schedule.
The facility is intended to provide the maintenance and servicing base needed to run passenger services on the future Rail Baltica line in Estonia. This marks a shift from focusing mainly on construction to preparing the facilities needed to operate services.
What the depot adds operationally
Alongside indoor maintenance and servicing capacity, the plans include a train wash, a wheel lathe, and additional outdoor service tracks.
For a corridor programme often discussed in terms of civil works and signalling, depot capacity is one of the practical elements that determines whether an operator can run a stable timetable: where trains are maintained, cleaned, inspected and turned around between services.
Why it matters: Rail Baltica’s delivery risk is not only about track and structures. Operational readiness depends on depots, maintenance workflows and fleet support coming online on time — because a corridor without the facilities needed to service trains cannot run reliably at scale.