Rail Baltic is now on track

By Siim Kallas, Vice President of the European Commission, responsible for transport

Rail Baltic, a major EU-funded project, is now firmly on track after the partner countries – the three Baltic States, Finland and Poland – agreed on 16 September 2013, to set up a joint venture to design and build this vital rail link.

The 1,435 mm double-track higher speed line from Tallinn to Warsaw, via Riga, Kaunas, Elk and Bialystok will be the largest infrastructure project ever undertaken in the history of the Baltic States. It will add a strategic north-south railway connection down the Eastern side of the Baltic and complete the high-quality transport links around the Baltic Sea which are helping to create the impressive recent growth in the region following the financial crisis.

The planned line will consist of new tracks in the Baltic States and a combination of upgraded and new sections in Poland. Rail Baltic will be part of the newly recast TEN-T (Trans-European Networks – transport) network and form the northern section of the new Core Network transport corridor – “North Sea-Baltic”, providing a multi-modal transport corridor linking the main North Sea ports eastwards across the Netherlands, Germany and Poland to Tallinn and Helsinki.

The cost of building the new track sections in the Baltic States is estimated at between EUR 3.6 billion and EUR 4 billion, following a recent feasibility study. Assuming a mature project pipeline for designing and building the new line, the EU can provide financial support from the Connecting Europe Facility of up to 85%. It is hoped that the remaining 15% can be obtained in loans from international financial institutions such as the EIB and the Nordic Investment Bank.

While the last year has seen difficult and often complex negotiations between the partner countries, the agreement in September 2013 between the transport ministers paves the way for negotiation on the final documents so that the joint venture can be formally created in Riga. Its aim is to create a business entity with a long-term business plan to design, plan, manage and coordinate the financing for the new construction.

After final decisions are taken on the line’s exact routings, the next and final series of studies will deal with issues such as an updated cost-benefit analysis, detailed design and environmental impact assessments, together with the land purchases necessary for the new track. This should be completed around 2018, allowing construction to begin over an estimated period of around 5-6 years. It is hoped that both passenger and freight trains can run along the entire route by 2025.

The European Commission has played its part to set aside the budget. It is now a question of cooperation between member states and building the actual projects.

Siim Kallas was appointed Vice-President of the European Commission in charge of transport in February 2010. From 2004 until 2010 Kallas served as Vice-President responsible for administration, audit and anti-fraud. In 2004, he was appointed as the first Estonian member of the European Commission, working in the field of economic and monetary affairs. Before joining the Commission, Kallas has served in Estonia as Prime Minister, Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs and President of the Central Bank. Siim Kallas has been elected to the Estonian parliament three times.