The European Commission is pressuring Latvia to accelerate the implementation of the European gauge railway project Rail Baltica, said on Wednesday at a meeting of the Economy Commission of the Seimas of Lithuania, the head of LTG Infra, a subsidiary of the state railway company Lietuvos geležinkeliai responsible for the implementation of the project in Lithuania, Vitis Žalimantas.
“The Estonians are progressing as quickly as we are, and with the Latvians, we have a classic megaproject situation. During the synchronization of the power grids, the Lithuanians and Estonians pressured the Latvians — and they completed the project. We see that something similar will happen with this project, only now Brussels is contributing significantly to the pressure on Latvia,” said Žalimantas.
“Brussels is making very serious efforts in negotiations with the Latvians to ensure that Latvia finally allocates the funding from the state budget necessary for the implementation of certain critical stages,” he added.
The head of LTG Infra noted that it was precisely due to delays on the part of Latvia that the decision was made to separate the design and construction of the 54-kilometer section from Panevėžys to the Latvian border in order to better manage risks.
“Our decision to first design the section from Panevėžys to the Latvian border is related to risk management, as the initial idea involved simultaneous design and construction, which would mean commitments of half a billion euros,” he explained. “Seeing the uncertainty on the part of the Latvians, we decided to reduce the scope and first complete the design, and only then proceed to construction,” said Žalimantas.
Despite the delays from Latvia, Lithuania will continue the construction of the European gauge railway according to its schedule, the head of the company added.
At the end of December, LTG Infra announced a competition for the design of the section from Panevėžys to the Latvian border, with applications accepted until February 27. LTG CEO Egidijus Lazauskas stated that the goal is to select a designer and start work this year.
The chairman of the board of the company Eiropas dzelzceļa līnijas, responsible for the implementation of the project in Latvia, Maris Dzelme, stated in an interview with Latvian television at the end of January that the first phase could be delayed by three to five years, and with the current level of funding, completing the project by 2030 is unrealistic.
The Rail Baltica project involves the creation of a railway line of European gauge from Tallinn to the borders of Lithuania and Poland, which will connect the Baltic countries with other European states. In the Baltic countries, the construction of a new European gauge railway (1435 mm) is planned, with a total length of 870 kilometers and a maximum train speed of up to 240 km/h.
