Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on Wednesday announced a joint procurement for ordering regional trains for Rail Baltic. However, uncertainty remains over when the railway will be completed.

The tender from the three countries’ train operators specifies that the first trains must be delivered by 2029 and enter service by the end of 2030.

Latvia will order up to five trains, Lithuania up to eight, and Estonia up to five, with the option to add two more later.

Infrastructure Minister Kuldar Leis (Reform) said Estonia had learned from previous experience that there is high demand for rail travel.

“In other words, the popularity of train travel increased so much that as soon as we put new trains on the line, passengers immediately increased and we immediately needed to purchase more [trains]. It simply takes so many years, so now we have learned from this — we are leaving some flexibility so that we can order additional trains more quickly,” he said.

Kuldar Leis. Source: Siim Lõvi / ERR

Latvia is doing its best

At the same time, doubts remain over whether the tracks will be completed across all Baltic states by the 2030 deadline. Leis noted that Latvia is lagging behind Estonia and Lithuania in its work, but it also has a more complex route.

“But Latvia is working. It may not be as visible, but Latvia is doing its best. Of course, there is political risk here. This is the biggest risk regarding Rail Baltic, if in any country a government says it will not continue construction or that there is no funding, then that is the biggest risk for Rail Baltic,” Leis said.

He said there is no “technical risk”.

“The question is whether politically everyone continues at the same pace or not. That is, whether the state itself funds it and believes that Rail Baltic is necessary. And I have more confidence in the current Latvian government compared with the previous one. But since elections are coming up there in the fall, we hope the situation will improve further,” the infrastructure minister continued.

Committed partners

Latvia did not send a minister to Wednesday’s press event in Tallinn.

Parliamentary secretary of Latvia’s Ministry of Transport, Kristaps Zalais, acknowledged that there are problems with the project, mainly a lack of funding. But he confirmed that Latvia is working to stay on schedule.

“We are partners, we are doing this together. Rail Baltic works if we all work together, and we remain committed and continue to cooperate. I want you to be assured that we are committed partners in this project. We are focusing on efficiency and on being stricter regarding the project’s financial side,” he said.

Kristaps Zalais. Source: Siim Lõvi / ERR

Lithuania’s transport minister confirmed that Lithuania will complete 114 kilometers on its territory by 2030 and backed Latvia to do its part.

“For me, it is very important to connect Lithuania with Western Europe, with our western partner Poland, and I will do that,” emphasized Lithuania’s transport minister, Juras Taminskas.

However, this week, Poland’s deputy infrastructure minister Piotr Malepszak told the Financial Times that completing the €24 billion Rail Baltic project by 2030 is impossible. He thinks 2040 is a more realistic deadline.

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