The European Commission will allocate an additional EUR 1.2bn of EU funds for the construction of the Rail Baltica railway, the project’s coordinator, RB Rail, announced, LSM reports. Of the sum, around EUR 370mn will go to Estonia, EUR 346mn to Latvia, and EUR 458mn to Lithuania. Together with national co-financing, total available funding will…
Estonian Finance Minister Mart Võrklaev suggested floating the company coordinating the Rail Baltica railway project, RB Rail, on the stock exchange to raise more funds amidst rising construction costs, ERR reports. Construction costs in Estonia alone are estimated at EUR 3.1bn, with EUR 1.2bn secured from EU funding. Võrklaev said that the government expected to have…
The Latvian government made a decision in 2015 to include international railway stations at Riga Central Station and Riga International Airport (RIX) in the Rail Baltica project, according to the Ministry of Transport, LETA reports. The then government approved a plan to build the project’s most complex objects first so that they would be available…
The ruling coalition in Latvia will review contracts and rising costs of the Rail Baltica railway project before approving any related payments, LETA reports. Following an audit of the project, the Ministry of Transport has turned to the Prosecution Office. The audit estimated that the total cost of the project had risen to EUR 23.8bn….
Estonia’s state-owned railway company, Eesti Raudtee (EVR), transported 10mn tonnes of cargo in 2023, which was 43% less than in 2022, ERR reports. The volume of transit freight totalled 2.1mn tonnes in 2023, compared to 9.5m tonnes in 2021. EVR’s commercial director, Arthur Raichmann, said that the biggest commodity groups were shale oil from Estonia…
The Estonian government plans to invest EUR 680.5mn in road maintenance in 2024-2027, which is EUR 76mn more than in the previous four-year period, the Ministry of Climate announced, BNS reports. State budget funds will account for EUR 543.8mn and funding from the EU’s Cohesion Fund and Connecting Europe Facility for EUR 136.7mn of the…
Estonia’s state-owned Rail Baltic Estonia has signed a contract for construction work on the first section of the new Rail Baltica main railway line with TREV-2 Grupp and AllSpark, ERR reports. The 4.8-kilometre section runs from Tallinn’s Ülemiste railway station to Rae municipality. Construction work will begin in spring 2024 and is due to be…
Lithuania’s state-owned airport operator, Lietuvos Oro Uostai (Lithuanian Airports, LTOU), plans to invest another EUR 250mn in 2025-2052, according to a study drawn up by Dutch aviation consultancy NACO, BNS reports. Under the plan, LTOU would invest around EUR 180mn in developing Vilnius International Airport, EUR 50mn in Kaunas Airport, and EUR 20mn in Palanga…
Latvia’s state-owned Eiropas Dzelzcela Linijas (EDZL) has awarded a contract to build the Rail Baltica railway in Latvia to the European joint venture, ERB Rail Baltica, for EUR 3.7mn, LSM reports. ERB Rail Baltica was established by France’s Eiffage Génie Civil, Italy’s Rizzani de Eccher, and Poland’s Budimex. EDZL’s procurement commission excluded Türkiye’s IC Ictas…
