Rail Baltica

Rail Baltica is a greenfield rail transport infrastructure project underway, with a goal to integrate the Baltic states in the European rail network. Its purpose is to provide passenger and freight service between participating countries and improve rail connections between Central and Northern Europe, specifically the area southeast of the Baltic Sea. Furthermore, it is intended to be a catalyst for building the economic corridor in Northeastern Europe. The project envisages a continuous rail link from Tallinn (Estonia) to Warsaw (Poland), consisting of links via Riga (Latvia), Kaunas, and Vilnius (Lithuania). Its total length in the Baltic States is , with in Estonia, in Latvia, and in Lithuania. Rail Baltica is one of the priority projects of the European Union (EU). It is part of the North Sea–Baltic Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T).
Rail Baltica will add the first large-scale mainline standard gauge railway in the area. Legacy rail networks in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are mainly in Russian gauge (1,520 mm). These countries' first railways were built in the second half of the 19th century while part of the Russian Empire. While some railways were built or converted to narrow or standard gauge between World War I and World War II in the independent or German-occupied Baltic states, these were later converted back to Russian gauge under Soviet occupation rule after 1945.
According to a study produced by Ernst & Young, the measurable socio-economic benefits are estimated at €16.2 billion. The assessed GDP multiplier effect the Rail Baltica Global Project would create is an additional €2 billion. As of January 2020, the high-speed railway connection from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border was expected to be completed by 2026. As of June 2020, the undersea railway tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki was envisioned to be completed around mid-2026. At the end of April 2021, governments of Estonia and Finland signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing themselves to cooperation in the area of transport. As of February 2023, the tunnel was still at the investigative stage.
Overview
Proposed environmental impact
Rail Baltica will be an electric railway, motivated by a desire to reduce carbon emissions. The railway has been planned to avoid Natura 2000 protected areas, in addition to minimising impacts on other environmentally sensitive protected areas and existing 1,520 mm gauge railway networking areas. Wherever necessary, noise protection barriers will be installed. Special animal passages will be built through the embankment.
Stations
The railway project will enable intermodality and multimodality, i.e. transportation of freight through two or more methods of transportation. Rail Baltica includes plans for three multimodal freight terminals located in Muuga Harbour (Estonia), Salaspils (Latvia), and Kaunas (Lithuania). This is intended to create synergies with the existing 1,520 mm railway system infrastructure. There will be seven international passenger stations—in Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Riga Airport, Panevežys, Kaunas, and Vilnius—with potential regional stations and connections to airports and seaports.
The section from Helsinki to Tallinn will be operated by existing commercial ferries. In the future, a proposed Helsinki to Tallinn Tunnel could provide a rail link between the two cities.
Parameters
Rail Baltica will be built as a new, publicly owned, fast conventional double-track railway. If the railway runs freight trains, it will be quadruple-track. It will be electrified and equipped with the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) for signalling and communications. The maximum design speed is for passenger trains, while the maximum operational speed will be . For freight trains, the maximum design speed is . The new railway line will be designed with a gauge. Other key technical parameters include:
The maximum freight train length will be .
The maximum axle load will be .
No level crossings with roads.
No flat crossings with the (Russian gauge) rail network.
For maintenance and emergency services, access to the main line should be every and in specific areas.
The railway will have ballasted track.
Its energy system should be 25 kV.
Its double track side should be right-hand running.
It is ERTMS Level 2, Baseline 3.
The network's parameters are in accordance with the EU Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI – P2, F1).
The design phase began in 2016, with design activities at the Riga Central Passenger Station and the Riga International Airport passenger station in Latvia to be continued until 2023. Meanwhile, the construction of the Rail Baltica infrastructure started in 2019, the first operations should start on some of the sections by 2028 and the overall corridor should be completed by 2030.
The overall length of the railway between Tallinn and Warsaw will be at least , while the length within the Baltic States proper will be .
Status
In 2017, all three Baltic parliaments ratified the Inter-Governmental Agreement for the Rail Baltica project, thereby confirming their long-term commitment to the project. In addition, Rail Baltica Global Project's cost-benefit analysis was delivered by Ernst & Young and Atkins International experts, based on the European Union's CBA guidelines. The analysis showed that the project was financially feasible and viable, and its measurable benefits would outweigh the costs.
In August 2016, the spatial planning for the entire Rail Baltica railway line was approved in Latvia by the decision of the Latvian Government. This was followed by the approval of the Lithuanian Government in January 2017 for their respective section from Kaunas to the border with Latvia. The route for the section from Kaunas to the border with Poland, known as Rail Baltica I, is subject to the results of an Upgrade Feasibility Study. On 14 February 2018, the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Estonia approved the spatial plan for the line in Estonia, leading to the setting of the final route and preliminary design of the railway in the country. With Estonia's decision, the spatial territorial planning and preliminary technical design of the Rail Baltica railway in the Baltic States was finalised.
The Rail Baltica project entered the design phase in all three Baltic States with the approval of detailed design guidelines. Certain sections have finished consolidating preliminary technical design, tendering the detailed technical design services, and preparing a BIM strategy. On 20 March 2018, the first Rail Baltica construction design and supervision contract—for Rail Baltica's Riga International Airport railway station, related infrastructure, and viaduct—was signed by Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas SIA and PROSIV, the winner of the open international tender and a partnership of suppliers from three countries: Prodex (Slovakia), Sintagma (Italy), and Vektors T (Latvia).
In 2018, studies related to commercialisation and supply materials were finalised, including a long-term business plan, an operational plan, an infrastructure management study, and an upgraded feasibility study of the European gauge railway line from Kaunas to the Lithuanian–Polish border. In 2019, the first cornerstone of Rail Baltica was laid in Estonia to mark the beginning of construction of Saustinõmme viaduct. Also, detailed technical design contracts were signed for the following sections: Tallinn–Rapla and Pärnu–Rapla in Estonia, Kaunas–Ramygala and Ramygala–Latvian/Lithuanian border in Lithuania, and Vangaži–Salaspils–Misa and the main line through Riga in Latvia. With the contracts signed, geotechnical research was started in different sections of the railway in order to gather information about the soil.
In 2020, the development of detailed technical design had progressed to cover of the main track, which included all railway sections in Estonia and Latvia as well as sections from Kaunas to the Latvian/Lithuanian border in Lithuania.
In Estonia, discussions about environmental impact assessment were started and meetings were planned until the end of 2020. During the discussions, people were invited to ask questions regarding the project's environmental impact, while various technical solutions were presented.
In Latvia, the Riga Central Station construction was officially started with ceremonies on 23 November 2020. On the 3rd of February 2021, the project implementer of Riga Airport Station was also chosen; construction began in May 2021 and is expected to finish in early 2023. Talks with NGOs in Riga were started to discuss technical solutions within the city, especially for infrastructure elements such as crossings and overpasses.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine has raised the importance of this European project, because of the connectivity across Europe that it will create, for civilian and military travel. Lithuania has a new commission to speed construction within the cities (freight terminal facilities and passenger depot). Estonia faces cost increases and construction delays.
As of 2023, the project completion is scheduled for 2030, with a start of services on some of the sections in 2028.
Project implementers
The Rail Baltica project is being implemented by the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Finland announced in February 2019 that it will also join the project.
The beneficiaries of the Rail Baltica project are ministries of the three Baltic States: Estonia's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Latvia's Ministry of Transport, and Lithuania's Ministry of Transport and Communications. In 2014, they established RB Rail AS, a joint venture that acts as the main coordinator and project implementer for the project. Its main business is the design, construction, and marketing of the railway. RB Rail AS also submits EU financing proposals for the Rail Baltica purchasing body for all parties for the procurement of studies, plans, designs for the Global Project, sub-systems (control, command, and signalling and energy/electrification), raw materials, key components, and cross-border track sections.
Rail Baltic Estonia OU in Estonia, Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas SIA in Latvia, and Rail Baltica statyba UAB and Lietuvos Geležinkeliu Infrastruktūra in Lithuania are the national implementing bodies. All construction carried out by the implementing bodies is done under the supervision of RB Rail AS and is based on common procurement principles, rules, and contract templates.
Financing
A feasibility study of Rail Baltica in the three Baltic States carried out by AECOM in May 2011 estimated a cost of €3.6 billion for the railway and proved that Rail Baltica is economically viable. Based on that study, key political and practical decisions—both on the national and EU level—were made to implement Rail Baltica.
Since the AECOM study, the project has grown to include additional elements to the Rail Baltica Global Project for better connectivity, passenger mobility, and inter-modality. These additions include routing the Rail Baltica passenger mainline through the Riga International Airport and the construction of the airport passenger station (Latvia), the Kaunas–Vilnius connection (Lithuania), an improved connection in Kaunas (Lithuania), and the construction of the "Ülemiste–Tallinn airport" tram line (Estonia). Moreover, the preparation of environmental impact assessments, spatial planning, and some preliminary designs has provided better investment estimations for the project.
Thus, in April 2017, the overall cost of the Rail Baltica Global Project implementation in all three countries—including the construction of the Kaunas–Vilnius section—was estimated to be €5.8 billion, according to a cost-benefit study carried out by Ernst & Young. According to the analysis, the project's economic feasibility and social benefits were still proved, providing the necessary updated parameters for continued EU and national co-financing of the project.
The project's profitability lies in its wider socio-economic benefits, which Ernst & Young estimated to be around €16.22 billion. In addition, several immeasurable (mostly catalytic) benefits would be created through regional integration, such as tourism development, new business creation, increased attractiveness to FDI, access to new export markets, technological transfer, and innovation.
The project is financed by the member states, the European Union TEN-T budget, and the Structural and Cohesion Funds provided to the EU New Member States. By the start of 2018, the three Baltic States and RB Rail AS had received two grants totaling €765 million designed under the CEF for the construction of the Rail Baltica railway. On 13 July 2018, a third grant agreement was signed for an additional €130 million, of which €110 million was CEF contribution. In July 2020, another CEF funding was received, amounting to €216 million for construction, technical design, and planning works. In total, the project has received around €1.2 billion from the EU and national funds.
In October 2023 Rail Baltica joint venture of the Baltic States, RB Rail AS, announced the signing of an additional cross-border Grant Agreement for Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding, which amounted to 928 million euros CEF support. This substantial funding, combined with national co-financing from the three Baltic States, will exceed 1.1 billion euros, enabling necessary activities for further high-speed infrastructure development.
Route and standard
The planning phase of Rail Baltica took place from 2010 to 2017. 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 would cost about €3.68 billion in total.
During the planning of the location of the project route in the Baltic States, a conceptual agreement among the three countries was reached that the railway should be as straight as possible, as this provides the highest benefits at the lowest cost. The shorter and more direct the route is, the faster traffic it can ensure, which economically has the highest advantage compared to its alternatives. This was confirmed by an AECOM study in 2013.
Initially, two options were considered. Both options included upgrading the existing standard gauge railway to enable travel speeds of up to along the stretch in Poland from Warsaw via Białystok and Ełk to Trakiszki, followed by a new railway with standard gauge from Trakiszki to Kaunas. For the remainder of the route to Tallinn, two different options were considered:
The first option was to upgrade the existing state-owned Tallinn–Tartu–Riga–Joniškis railway to 160 km/h (maintaining its Russian gauge) and build a new state-owned railway from Joniškis–Kaunas with 160 km/h, also at Russian gauge. However, because of the break of gauge at Kaunas, passengers would have to change trains there. For freight, a reloading facility or a bogie exchange station would be placed near Kaunas. This option was already completed as Rail Baltica I.
The second option was a new standard gauge railway with speed and 3 kV DC power (the same voltage as in Poland) from Kaunas via Joniškis to Riga, as above, but then continuing in a shorter, straighter line via Pärnu to Tallinn. This option was chosen as the preferred route. The existing Lelle–Pärnu line in Estonia was permanently closed for passenger operations on 9 December 2018, as it required a €17 million refurbishment.
The Šiauliai–Latvian border rail section (using broad gauge) was newly built and scheduled to be finished in 2015 with an estimated cost of €270 million. In Latvia, the existing railway upgrade between Riga and Valka was finished in 2016 at a cost of €97 million. The EU contributed about 25% of the cost for the three parts.
Construction (2017–present)
In 2017, the parliaments of the three Baltic States ratified the intergovernmental agreement on Rail Baltica, stating that the "route shall be from Tallinn though Pärnu–Riga–Panevėžys–Kaunas to the Lithuanian/Polish state border with a connection of Vilnius–Kaunas as a part of the railway" and defining a design speed of 240 km/h for passenger travel. Thus, the Rail Baltica Global Project route was aligned from Tallinn until Kaunas, with the pre-existing European gauge railway line section from Kaunas to the Lithuanian/Polish border being subject to the results of the Upgrade Feasibility Study. Nevertheless, in April 2018, the Ministries of the three Baltic States approved the design guidelines of Rail Baltica, which state that the maximum design speed will be 249 km/h and maximum operational speed should be 234 km/h.
For the Kaunas (Jiesia)–Lithuanian/Polish border section, a 78.1 km route named "alternative 6A" was approved in May 2022 by the Lithuanian Ministry of Transport and Communications, taking into account the opinion of the majority of the local residents. This optimal route is the shortest among the alternatives which were proposed and the most remote from the urban areas.
The Polish section of Rail Baltica is being upgraded to allow passenger trains to run at 200 km/h. The Ełk–state border section may be built to allow 250 km/h and may be electrified using the 25 kV AC system.
Rail Baltica I
The name "Rail Baltica" is also sometimes used to mean the first phase of European gauge railway construction from the Poland/Lithuania border to Kaunas in Lithuania. It was inaugurated on 16 October 2015. The project, which built European standard-gauge one track alongside the existing Russian gauge tracks, cost €380 million. 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, a new signal system, and more level crossing gates. In June 2016, Lithuanian Railways and Polregio started weekend passenger train service between Kaunas and Białystok.
In Estonia and Latvia, implementation of the Rail Baltica I project included upgrades of the existing rail lines in the region. The 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 €40 million.
Benefits
The Baltic railway infrastructure will be connected to the European railway corridor, ensuring high-speed passenger travel and freight movement. Rail Baltica creates the possibility to shift the major freight transport in the regions from road to rail, which is currently being transported towards Russia and then north by heavy trucks. In the case of Poland, trucks follow local roads and directly cross the villages of Podlaskie Voivodeship.
According to the 2017 cost-benefit study by Ernst & Young, the benefits from Rail Baltica are calculated to be:
€7.1 billion saved in climate change and noise reduction
30–40% relevant track traffic flow shifted to railways
13,000 jobs created during the construction phase
€5.3 billion saved for passenger and freight travel
5.3 million passenger hours saved
400 human lives saved in 29 years
All in total, measurable socio-economic benefits are estimated at €16.2 billion. The assessed GDP multiplier effect the Rail Baltica Global Project would create is an additional €2 billion. It is also claimed there will be "substantial unmeasurable benefits".
In late April 2022, implementers of the Rail Baltica project presented the progress at the European Parliament where the strategic and geopolitical security importance of the project was stressed repeatedly in reference to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Criticism
Criticism started after the feasibility study published by AECOM in 2011, with the government of Lithuania keen to include a link to Vilnius. The mayor of Tartu, Estonia's second-largest city, called for the city to be included in the route.
In 2013, the Estonian Association for the Club of Rome advised the government to abandon the Rail Baltica route. Problems in the environmental assessment programme have also been claimed.
In 2017, two Estonian environmental groups claimed that the lack of public participation on the decision made by Baltic governments and building of a new line, rather than upgrading the existing network, is in conflict with the Aarhus Convention.
In 2016 and 2017, three open letters were composed in Estonia which called on the Estonian government and parliament to stop the project in its planned form. The main arguments in these letters were that the new track as a greenfield project will cause too much damage to nature and does not essentially improve travel possibilities.
On 8 June 2017, Priit Humal, Karli Lambot, Illimar Paul, and Raul Vibo, experts on logistics and engineering, published a critical analysis of the Rail Baltica cost-benefit analysis made by Ernst & Young, claiming that €4.1 billion of the stated socio-economic benefits are faulty and therefore the Rail Baltica project was neither feasible nor eligible for EU financing. They asked for comments from RB Rail AS, the Rail Baltica coordinator, who provided answers four months later. The authors of the first study claimed that the issues raised in their previous analysis were not adequately addressed in the official replies and that therefore Rail Baltica will be detrimental to society.
The authors of the critical analysis have been accused of having a conflict of interest, as one of the authors owns a logistics company. It has been claimed that Rail Baltica would decrease the volume of business for road transport businesses. The author has denied these claims.
See also
Via Baltica (E67)
Helsinki–Tallinn Tunnel
Rail transport in Estonia
Rail transport in Latvia
Rail transport in Lithuania
Rail transport in Poland
Rail transport in the European Union
Pan-European Corridor I
References
External links
Official website – Rail Baltica Global Project
Planned route of Rail Baltica on Open Street Map
European Commission: Progress report on Rail Baltica compiled by the European coordinator of the project Pavel Telička, July 2007 – July 2008
Information about Rail Baltica on the TEN-T website of Greens/EFA in the European Parliament
European Commission: Feasibility study on Rail Baltica railways – Main conclusions and recommendations January 2007
European Commission: Feasibility study on Rail Baltica railways – Annexes January 2007
Priority Project 27
Baltic countries' agreement on Rail Baltica project to be signed at the beginning of summer
Rail transport in Estonia
Rail transport in Latvia
Rail transport in Lithuania
Rail infrastructure in Poland
Proposed rail infrastructure in Europe
Higher-speed rail
High-speed rail in Europe
Proposed transport infrastructure in Estonia
Proposed transport infrastructure in Latvia
Proposed transport infrastructure in Lithuania
Projects of the Three Seas Initiative