The Estonian Ministry of Climate has announced a competition for the acquisition of suburban trains for "Rail Baltica." The needs of the Latvian railway are an addition to the competition.
It can be noted right away that these are not trains for the Tallinn – Warsaw line, but for local transportation Tallinn – Pärnu – Häädemeeste. The Estonians plan to buy five trains and equipment for the depot.
Latvia decided to "trail" behind the Estonian competition, not announcing its own competition, but noting that three trains for Latvia are an "option," meaning that after purchasing the main batch of Estonian trains, they can be ordered or not.
Latvian suburban trains can be intended for the section Daugavkrasti – Salacgrīva. The maximum speed is up to 200 km/h.
If one train is under repair or in reserve, then two trains remain on the line. Accordingly, the interval will be at least 1 hour.
The cost of one train for 200 passengers can be 12-15 million euros, and if they are indeed ordered, they will arrive no earlier than the end of 2030, and possibly later.
At this stage, this does not relate to Riga in any way, but maybe someday they will also lay tracks of European gauge through Riga.
The only advantage of this option is that the participants in the competition can (if they wish) appeal the results in Estonian administrative institutions. Unlike Latvia, they have managed to quickly purchase trains there, rather than conducting a competition with appeals and court processes for ten years. Probably, that’s why they have had new trains for a long time, while we are just starting to get used to them.
In Latvia, instead of track layers, the railway is currently handled by legal officials. The Latvian Procurement Monitoring Bureau is considering complaints received from three candidates regarding the competition for the modernization of the existing section of the Torņakalns – Imanta line: it is planned to transport passengers to the airport along this line. As part of the modernization, stationary elevated platforms were supposed to be installed at the stops Torņakalns, Zasulauks, Depot, the Imanta station was to be rebuilt, and the signaling system and electric suspension were to be completely updated.
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