Rail Baltica

Status

The first phase, known as Rail Baltica I, extends from the Poland-Lithuania border to Kaunas. It was inaugurated on October 16, 2015. The project, which built standard-gauge tracks alongside the existing Russian gauge tracks, cost €380m. The 119 km line accommodates diesel trains, with passenger trains running at up to 120 km/h and freight trains at up to 80 km/h. Higher speeds will depend on future electrification and a new signal system. In June 2016, Lithuanian Railways and Przewozy Regionalne started weekend passenger train service between Kaunas and Białystok.

The second phase, known as Rail Baltica II, will be developed by RB Rail, a special-purpose company established in October 2014 and owned equally by the three Baltic States. Rail Baltica II will consist of a double-track standard-gauge railway between Tallinn, Riga, and Kaunas, and will also electrify and upgrade the portion from Kaunas to the Polish border to allow higher speeds. Rail Baltica will be fully compatible with European Union standards, including the European Rail Traffic Management System. The project is planned to begin construction in 2020, and be completed in 2025.

Financing

The project will be financed by the member states and by the European Union TEN-T budget of (€124 million), and the Structural and Cohesion Funds provided to the EU New Member States. The total cost was expected to be around €1.5 billion for option one, and around €2.4 billion for option two.

In Autumn 2015, the budget was estimated to be €4 billion.

By late Summer 2016, the total budget was estimated to be about €5 billion; the Estonian part of which was rated at €1.31 billion, and the rail section covering the distance from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border was rated to be €3.6 billion. That budget also covers the additional construction of the European-gauge Kaunas–Vilnius track section.

In November 2016, EU agreed to fund €180m, 85% of the cost of the Lithuanian part of the phase II.

Route and standard

In 2011, the three Baltic States agreed on a route connecting Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Panevėžys, and Kaunas. A feasibility study for this option estimated the line will cost about €3.68 billion in total.

Initially two options were considered. Both options included an upgrade of the existing railway (with standard gauge) to 160 km/h (99 mph) for the stretch that runs from Warsaw via Białystok and Ełk to Trakiszki, followed by a new railway with standard gauge Trakiszki–Kaunas. For the remainder of the route to Tallinn two different options were considered:

Although there is an EU high-speed directive saying that new TEN-T lines should have a speed of 250 km/h (160 mph), with only upgraded lines allowed at a lower speed of 200 km/h, it is hard to finance the project as it is, and so if the project succeeds, 200 km/h is most likely for the newly constructed line, and 160 km/h for the upgraded section which is a higher-speed rail. As there are many level crossings and 160 km/h normally is the maximum train speed over level crossings, there would be a large cost increase for upgrading to 200 km/h.

Other rail projects

In addition to the Rail Baltica project, other rail lines in the region are being upgraded. The 66 kilometres (41 mi) Russian gauge line from Tartu to Valga (on the Latvian border) in Estonia was renovated between 2008 and 2010. The work was done by the Finnish VR Group for a cost of €40M.

The Šiauliai-to-Latvian border rail section (using broad gauge) will be newly-built and to be finished in 2015 with an estimated cost of €270M. In Latvia, the existing railway will be upgraded at the cost of €97M, and planned to be finished 2015. The EU will contribute about 25% of the cost for the three parts.

Opportunities

When talking about the benefits of the project, it is pointed out that the Baltic railway infrastructure will be connected to the European railway corridor. In case of a successful project implementation, in 16 years of time, high quality rail connection between the Baltic States and the biggest economic, administrative and culture centers of Western Europe will be ensured. Opportunities for a new cargo way (Nordic – Southern) as well as the development of logistics services are expected. The tourism, regions and new working places will be developed and the national safety of Latvia will be increased. It has been estimated that at least 1.5 billion euro will flow into the economy of Latvia.

Rail Baltica creates the possibility to shift the major freight transport in the regions from road to rail, which for the time being is transported towards Russia and then north by heavy trucks. In the case of Poland the trucks follow the local roads and directly cross the villages of Podlaskie Voivodeship.

Constraints to be resolved

One of the project's aspects is the conversion of the Baltic States' rail network to Standard Gauge (1,435 mm (4 ft 8 ¹⁄₂ in)), thus improving rail integration with Europe at the expense of integration with the Russian system (1,520 mm (4 ft 11 ²⁷⁄₃₂ in)).

If the north–south railways are converted to standard gauge, the west–east railways are still not likely to be converted, since they are used for freight and passenger trains to Russia. There is even a consideration to build a new west–east high-speed railway Riga–Moscow which will use Russian gauge.