In the center of Riga, the unfinished bridge of the Rail Baltica project over the Daugava has gained sad notoriety, becoming a symbol of what happens when construction begins but funding is not fully secured.
Active construction work is currently underway at Riga Airport — on a section whose future is also uncertain. Why the construction continues is a question posed by Latvian Television.
The largest aviation hub in the Baltics is planned to be connected to Rail Baltica in both directions — towards Riga and Marupe.
There is some clarity regarding the direction to the center of Riga. In just a couple of years, existing Škoda trains should start running from the airport to Riga Central Station. Funding for the implementation of this plan has reportedly been allocated.
But there is also a second direction — towards Marupe. And although work is ongoing there, it is already clear that neither now nor in the near future will this section be a priority for the major project. The reason is that the Airport-Central Station connection is the first phase of the project that needs to be completed by 2030, while the direction to Marupe is the second phase, and there is no clarity on when a train will start running here.
"The ongoing work towards Marupe is related to the fact that this section is being completed with EU funding allocated. It simply needs to be finished. Otherwise, Latvia will lose EU funds. It may seem strange that we are building a second-phase section, but right now we are just completing it in this form. This is how it will remain," says Andulis Židkovs, the State Secretary of the Ministry of Transport.
Board member of Eiropas Dzelzceļa Līnijas (responsible for the project) Janis Naglis emphasizes that by the time the government decided to divide Rail Baltica into phases, most of the work on the section in Marupe had already been ordered and was actually being carried out, and materials had been ordered from abroad.
"Otherwise, we would have to compensate the contractor for uncompleted work, pay for materials. Therefore, at that moment, assessing the situation, we concluded that we needed to complete the project in this form, and later we could decide what to do next," admits Naglis. He rejects any parallels between the construction of this connection and the unfinished bridge over the Daugava.
"Completely different situations: in the case of the bridge, perhaps construction began without certainty of its completion. Here, however, we have enough funds to complete the overpass in this form, ensuring its safe existence for many years. Further decisions regarding the second phase will allow us to utilize the already constructed infrastructure."
Currently, about a kilometer of overpass is being built in the Marupe section, so that the work is completed outside the airport area, Naglis explains. This will avoid hindering the development of the airport and eliminate the need for costly conservation of the facility.
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