To get to the Inčupe station, locals must tread the terrain for hundreds of meters – along or on the rails. No pathways, no lights.
Mārtiņš Graudums, who has lived in Saulkrasti since the 1970s, pointed out that locals are risking their lives in winter because of inappropriate infrastructure:
"Especially in winter, I'm practically left to walk only on the tracks. There is no other variant. It [snow] is up to your knees, [walking] down the tracks at some point you have to jump off. If you go here to the highway, then I can tell that two people have died there at the pedestrian crossing. The pedestrian crossing is right at the start of the Saulkrasti. There are cars coming at high speeds and there's a turn from the hill."
A lot of people walk along the tracks. True, it's almost impossible, noted Anna Zirne-Blumberga:
“Nothing has been mown down. If some 5-6 years ago it was still mown and someone made sure people got there, then at the moment the monitoring work [of the passenger flow] is completely redundant because it is as difficult as it gets to come to the station at all. I have children, for example. I definitely don't come to the station with the kids because I don't want to teach them that you walk on the tracks, which isn't right. Along a highway where cars drive at 70-80 kilometers an hour, along the side of the road isn't too smart either, let alone a with pram or something. The new trains aren't really good for this station right now either, because we can't come to the station. Monitoring something and counting people stumbling and risking their lives is stupid. ”
Pensioner Guna Lūre said she has lived in Inčupe during the summers for more than 50 years:
"For years [the government] has been saying, please, let's use public transport. It's better, more eco-friendly and all that.. But in our case, public transport gets worse and worse. The public has got used to it. This year there is a normal schedule, every hour. Before, the train only stopped every three hours. [..]
"I am really pained by this hypocrisy, that on the one hand you say "public transport", on the other it is far from being public."
Residents also ask for the stop to be moved half a kilometer closer to the station in Pabaži. Benefits – more convenience for Saulkrasti and Veselība village residents. In addition, the stop would be close to the White Dune, one of the Saulkrasti's main sights.
The stop's relocation was supported by more than 770 residents last year on the site Manabalss.lv.
Although in autumn the Ministry of Transport told Latvian Radio that a better location for the station would be sought in parallel with the monitoring, it has now become clear that the survey will only start in the next few days. Latvian Railways says that the Inčupe station could possibly be modernized.
Agnese Līcīte, a spokesperson for Latvian Railways, said that about 40 stations would be surveyed:
"Such a survey is being carried out at all stations that are included in the list of potential stops to be modernized already for the next planning period, and there are about 40 such stops, but this number can change and depends on the decisions of the Public Transport Council as well as on the funding already available. However, at the moment this funding has not yet been allocated. If this stop is included in this European Union funding period, then the project would already be underway by the end of 2029."
The final decision, however, remains to be taken by the Public Transport Council. However, Līcīte could not answer whether, if it is decided to upgrade or relocate the Inčupe station, this will only happen in 2029.
A meeting of the Public Transport Council will decide on the fates of the Inčupe, Rumbula, Dārziņi, Kaibala, Cena, and Kūdra stations in early August.
