Officials in Estonia assure that the Rail Baltic project has not changed and that the entire length of the route will have a European, not a Russian gauge. At the same time, the Estonians refer to the assurances of the minister from Latvia. Can he be trusted?
Recently, rumors began to circulate in Latvia that on one large section it is planned to maintain the existing Russian gauge.
The report from Latvian Radio about a possible, so to speak, economical variant of the Rail Baltic route has certainly not gone unnoticed in Tallinn, writes ERR. If information from unnamed sources is to be believed, due to a lack of funds, Latvia decided to keep the current broad gauge on the section between Salaspils and Skulte. In this case, the project of the high-speed railway line, scheduled for completion in 2030, would be incomplete and would require special trains capable of running on tracks of different widths.
According to Estonia's Minister of Infrastructure Kuldar Leis, his Latvian counterpart Aitis Švinka denied the rumors about such a revision of the Rail Baltic project.
"Last night, the Latvian Minister of Transport called me and assured that the official position of the authorities has not changed. As for the origin of the rumors about the revision of the project, I really do not know where they came from," said Leis.
The head of the company responsible for the construction of the Estonian section of the highway claims that he has not heard any proposals to maintain the old gauge in Latvia.
"I do not rule out that in the search for opportunities to continue the work, original ideas bordering on fantasy could have emerged. But there is no agreement on this matter," said the head of Rail Baltic Estonia Anvar Salomets.
It is no secret that Latvia has not yet found the necessary funds to complete all the work by 2030. But in Estonia, they believe that their southern neighbors will find them.
"The pace of work in Latvia certainly needs to be increased, and I am currently unable to say how the Latvian side plans to solve the funding issues," noted Salomets.
"Latvians have still been talking about taking an additional loan and weighing the possibility of attracting private capital for financing," said Leis.
Leave a comment