05.11.2025
The entire future Rail Baltica electricity and communications network will run through pipes that will be finished right here in Estonia. Two companies – Höhle from Rapla municipality and Pipelife from Rae municipality – have been awarded a major contract and the opportunity to supply material for the entire 870-kilometre high-speed railway that will connect Estonia to the European rail network by 2030. The contracts are worth tens of millions of euros and are a landmark victory in fierce international competition: pipes produced in small Estonian municipalities will become an invisible but vital part of the new international railway.
Europe's new high-speed rail project, Rail Baltica, is a massive undertaking, with a new European standard gauge railway running from Tallinn and Muuga through Pärnu, Latvia and Lithuania to the Polish border and on to Warsaw. It will be built for speeds of up to 249 km/h, and tens of thousands of kilometres of pipes will be needed to protect the electrical, communication and safety systems along the entire route, carrying wires and cables.
It has now become clear that a significant part of this infrastructure is produced in Estonia.
Rapla County, in Lõiuse village and Rae rural municipality. The Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian joint venture RB Rail AS has signed the first framework agreements for the supply of cable protection materials. Höhle OÜ operating in Rapla rural municipality supplies multi-pipes and cable protection pipes manufactured at the Pipelife Eesti AS factory in Rae rural municipality.
Multi-conduit and cable protection conduits play an important role in protecting railway power and communication cables. They ensure a safe, tidy and durable installation, protecting the cables from mechanical damage, moisture and temperature fluctuations, and simplifying maintenance and future system upgrades.
First deliveries already made
The total volume of the Höhle OÜ contract is 15 million euros, the first deliveries to Lithuania and Estonia have already been made, and Verston, which is building three sections of the route in Rapla County, has already ordered micropipes for the factory's home county.
“This is the biggest project in our history,” says the company’s founder and CEO, Toomas Koobas. “The process took three or four years, there were a thousand pages of documentation. I would have given up in the meantime, but stubbornness helped me to finish it.”
Koobas founded Höhle OÜ and started producing microtubes for fiber optic cables ten years ago with a couple of employees. “The fiber optic cable installed in our tubes brings, for example, superfast internet to homes and ensures that railway signals reach the control center without delay,” explains Koobas.
Today, Höhle exports nearly 95 percent of its production to more than 25 countries, supplying European telecom and infrastructure companies. The very modern factory is located in the village of Lõiuse in Rapla County, a quarter of an hour's drive from both Kohila and Rapla. The current production capacity is fully sufficient to fulfill the contract signed with RB Rail AS and will secure jobs for fifty people in Rapla County for the next 5–7 years.
Double benefit for Rae rural municipality
Located just a few kilometers from the future Rail Baltica line, Pipelife Eesti's factory in Rae parish will supply cable protection pipes along the entire route - materials that ensure the safety and durability of railway power and communication cables. Pipelife Eesti AS has been one of the leading pipe solution providers in the Baltics since 1993 and has been fully owned by the Wienerberger Group since 2012.
"We have successfully completed Rail Baltica's factory and production audits, prepared the necessary documents, and are ready to ensure product availability and begin full-scale deliveries," said Alar Anga, CEO of Pipelife Eesti AS.
Rail Baltica means a double benefit for the company with 103 employees: a large supply volume during construction and new access to export markets in the future.
“If fast and environmentally friendly passenger train traffic is added in the future, it will benefit all companies in Rae rural municipality and Harju County,” Anga noted. “For us, it means shorter delivery times to Latvia and Lithuania, where we already have our own offices and warehouses – this will make the entire logistics chain more efficient.”
Although production volume is increasing significantly, the number of employees remains at the current level thanks to investments in new technology and production automation.
“It is good to see that the construction of Rail Baltica creates opportunities for local manufacturers and service providers,” said Anvar Salomets, CEO of Rail Baltica Estonia. “Estonian companies are very competitive internationally – these contracts show that our industry has all the prerequisites to participate in large cross-border projects. Each such contract means jobs for Estonian companies, tax revenue for municipalities and a direct economic impact on the regions through which the high-speed railway passes.”
Framework agreements are a guarantee of quality
The framework agreements with Höhle and Pipelife were the first of their kind in the Rail Baltica project, with the remaining joint procurements completed and final decisions under review. “These agreements represent more than just a formality – they confirm that our suppliers are ready for large-scale work,” added Marko Kivila, Chairman of the Board of RB Rail AS. “This ensures that all materials are compatible with the railway system and meet strict safety and reliability requirements.”
The framework agreement is a long-term agreement between the three Baltic States and the supplier, which sets out the general terms and conditions for further deliveries, including prices, quality requirements and delivery procedures, but does not create an independent financial obligation. It gives the parties the opportunity to order the necessary quantities quickly and transparently, based on the previously approved framework conditions. The total value of the framework agreements is 1,13 billion euros, which includes the estimated cost of superstructure materials for the entire Rail Baltica project.
The article was first published on November 4, 2025 as a content marketing story in Õhtuleht.
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