Rail Baltica plans in maps and numbers: Part 1

Part 2 of the article is available here.

Rail Baltica interactive map

The Rail Baltica project will build a European standard gauge railway line from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border to connect the Baltic States with other European countries by rail. A new European standard gauge (1435 millimeters (mm)) railway line, 870 kilometers (km) long, with a maximum train speed of 240 kilometers per hour, will be built in the Baltic States.

The Rail Baltica railway line in Latvia is planned to be about 265 km long, starting at the Lithuanian-Latvian border and running through 10 municipalities: the municipalities of Bauska, Ķekava, Olaine, Mārupe, the capital Rīga, Salaspils, Ropaži, Sigulda, Saulkrasti and Limbaži. In total, Latvia wishes to build more than 10 regional and two international stations - Riga Central Station (RCS) and Riga Airport (RIX). Infrastructure maintenance points are planned in Iecava and Skulte. Cargo terminals will be developed in the vicinity of Riga Airport and Salaspils.

These are just some of the plans of the ambitious project, which can also be found in the Rail Baltica interactive map below:

First phase - what do we plan to build first?

This summer, the project management announced that the cost of Rail Baltica in the Baltics had risen from less than €6 billion initially to almost €24 billion. The decision has therefore been taken to reduce construction costs by building the first phase of the project by 2030 instead of two tracks.

The Transport Ministry's plan for the first phase of the Rail Baltica project includes the following:

• to build one European standard gauge or 1435 mm track from the Lithuanian border to Estonia, starting with the Lithuanian border-Misa section;
• completion of the ongoing construction works at the two Riga international stations - RIX and RCS South;
• build a new railway line from Imantas station to Riga Airport to connect the airport with the center of Riga on the existing railway infrastructure with a 1520 mm gauge line before the construction of the European standard gauge or 1435 mm gauge line;
• to create a loading/unloading point on both sides of the Daugava for military mobility;
• build at least four regional stations - Salacgrīva, Skulte Manor, Salaspils/Daugavkrasti, Bauska - and overtaking places at them;
• infrastructure maintenance points in Iecava and Skulte;
• construct a traffic control center and a siding for the future Salaspils freight terminal;
• a European wide-gauge rail link to one of the two Riga international stations, the choice to be based on a separate feasibility study which will determine which of the two links - Upeslejas-RCS or Misa-RIX - is more advantageous from an economic, technical, and financial perspective.

Phase 1 - how much would it cost and how much money is missing?

The Ministry's plan estimates the approximate costs of the first stage of Rail Baltica. In addition to the construction of the main line, which could cost close to €4 billion, additional costs of more than €700 million would be incurred for design, construction supervision, project management, and the disposal of real estate. Significant sums have also been estimated for possible connections of Riga's international stations to the main line.

Rail Baltica sections costs, million euro (in 2023 prices, excluding VAT)

Click to enlarge

The upcoming multiannual EU budget negotiations will be crucial for Latvia and will determine how much EU funding will be available for the Rail Baltica project. This will determine how much and how quickly the first phase of the project can be implemented.

So far, a significant sum - more than €3.7 billion - is missing for the construction of the main line from Lithuania to the Estonian border, and there is no money for either of the two possible connections of the main line to Riga.

Rail Baltica first phase costs in Latvia, million euro (2023 prices, excluding VAT)

Part 2 of this article will follow.