20.06.2022
In the passenger terminal naming competition announced in April in cooperation with Rail Baltic Estonia and the Pärnu city government, 5 names were put to the public vote. The winner was announced today.
Out of 203 unique name proposals, five names made it to the finals of the naming competition, all of which were directly or indirectly related to Pärnu: Lydia, Embecke, Hansa, Pärnu, Raimond Valgre.
"Although the referendum took place for only a few weeks, 1620 votes were cast, and although there was a lot of debate between Lydia and Pärnu for a while, the people found that the most suitable candidate for the name of the passenger terminal was the place name, Pärnu," said the Chairman of the Board of Rail Baltic Estonia. Anvar Salomets.
According to Salometsa, the design of the Pärnu terminal is now practically at the end of its life: "There are still some details that need some attention, but in general, it can be said that the design of the Pärnu terminal has been completed. We will announce the construction tender for the terminal either next year or the year after, as the construction must be completed by the time the railway is put into operation, not significantly earlier. However, this year we plan to announce the construction tender for Lao Street, which means that we will basically start building access to the future passenger terminal."
“The RB Pärnu section and the infrastructure belonging to it will begin to take shape in the coming years. As far as we know, the construction of the cargo terminal and passenger terminal in Pärnu will begin in 2023-2024, and these objects should be completed in 2027, so the passenger terminal will definitely need a name soon. I am glad that so many people took part in the naming competition for the RB Pärnu passenger terminal, who made their own name suggestions for the future terminal or voted for different options,” said the Mayor of Pärnu Romek Kosenkranius.
Although Pärnu was proposed as a name option by six people, the first to make the winning bid in the naming contest was Ivo Seeba. The second-place name option, Lydia, was proposed 37 times – the first to be proposed by Laili Laasma, and the third-place name in the popular vote, Raimond Valgre, seven times. The first bidder was Märten Metsaviir.
The organizer of the naming contest, Rail Baltic Estonia, has awarded the winning name a cash prize of 1000 euros. Second place will receive 500 euros, and third place will receive 250 euros.
In addition to the Mayor of Pärnu, the jury convened by the City of Pärnu also included Deputy Mayors Varje Tipp, Irina Talviste and Silver Smeljanski, Editor-in-Chief of Pärnu Postimees Siiri Erala, Indrek Aija from Pärnu Museum, and Tourism Development Specialist Ave Lääne. The jury for Rail Baltic Estonia included Chairman of the Board Anvar Salomets and Communications Manager Priit Pruul.
An architectural competition for the construction of the Rail Baltica Pärnu passenger terminal was organized in 2014, and the winner was the PLUSS architectural firm's work "Water Strider", authored by Indrek Allmann, Jaan Jagomägi, Gunnar Kurusk, Tanno Tammesson, and Holden Vides.
The landscape architectural solution was created by the PLUSS Architectural Office in collaboration with K-Projekt.
The terminal building with its unique architecture, which is being built in the Papiniidu area of Pärnu, is designed above the platform and is connected to galleries. The terminal building is planned to include a waiting room with 90 seats, as well as a café, information points and other rooms with necessary functions.
VIDEO: RAIL BALTICA AT THE INTERNATIONAL PÄRNU TRAVEL TERMINAL
Rail Baltica is an environmentally friendly and convenient railway connection that connects Estonia with its southern neighbors and Central Europe. The infrastructure being built will allow passengers to reach Tallinn from Pärnu in 40 minutes and Riga in 1 hour and 42 minutes. Regional trains will also start operating on the Rail Baltica route.
Rail Baltic Estonia is the developer of the Rail Baltica railway in Estonia and will in the future be the infrastructure manager of the Estonian part of this railway.
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