Rail Baltica is an under-construction rail infrastructure project that is intended to integrate the Baltic states in the European rail network. The project envisages a continuous rail link for passenger and freight services with stations from Tallinn (Estonia) to Warsaw (Poland), via Pärnu (Estonia), Riga (Latvia) and Kaunas (Lithuania), with two branches extending from the main line towards Riga International Airport and Vilnius (Lithuania). Its total length in the Baltic states is , with in Estonia, in Latvia, and in Lithuania.Route alternative approved for the future construction of the Rail Baltica railway from Kaunas to the border with Poland, railbaltica.org, 12 May 2022.
Rail Baltica will build the first large-scale mainline standard gauge railway in the region. Rail networks in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania mainly use Russian gauge (1,520 mm). These countries' first railways were built in the second half of the 19th century as part of the Russian Empire rail network. While some railways were built or converted to narrow or standard gauge in the Interwar period between World War I and World War II in the independent or German-occupied Baltic states, these were later converted back to Russian gauge under Soviet occupation rule after 1945.
, the completion of the phase 1 single-track railway from Tallinn through Latvia (Riga) to the Lithuania-Poland border is scheduled for 2030, with completion of the double track railway to follow dependent on funding. Rail Baltica is one of the priority projects of the European Union (EU). It is part of the North Sea–Baltic Corridor of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) and it is also intended as a catalyst for building the economic corridor in Northeastern Europe. It has also been proposed to extend Rail Baltica to include an undersea railway tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki.Mike Collier. "Helsinki mayor still believes in Tallinn tunnel", The Baltic Times, 3 April 2008. Retrieved on 13 May 2008. By 2024, the estimated cost of the project had increased from €5.8 billion in 2017 to €23.8 billion (at 2023 prices).
Overview
Genesis The Rail Baltica project results from the three Pan-European Transport Conferences held in Prague (1991), Crete (1994) and Helsinki (1997).Pavel Telička, european coordinator, Priority project No 27 « Rail Baltica » - Warsaw-Kaunas-Riga-Tallinn-Helsinki, Brussels, July 2006 (PDF), on the European Commission's website. “Rail Baltica” corresponds to the rail element, from Tallinn to Warsaw, of the first of nine Pan-European transport corridors defined at the Crete conference in March 1994, while the road project is called “Via Baltica” (part of European route E67).
Proposed environmental impact Rail Baltica will be an electric railway, motivated by a desire to reduce carbon emissions. The railway has been planned to avoid Natura 2000 protected areas, in addition to minimising impacts on other environmentally sensitive protected areas and existing 1,520 mm gauge railway networking areas. Wherever necessary, noise protection barriers will be installed. Special animal passages will be built through the embankment.
Stations
The railway project will enable intermodality and multimodality, i.e. transportation of freight through two or more methods of transportation. Rail Baltica includes plans for three multimodal freight terminals located in Muuga Harbour (Estonia), Salaspils (Latvia), and Kaunas (Lithuania). This is intended to create synergies with the existing 1,520 mm railway system infrastructure. There will be seven international passenger stations—in Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Riga Airport, Panevėžys, Kaunas, and Vilnius—with potential regional stations and connections to airports and seaports.
The section from Helsinki to Tallinn will be operated by existing commercial ferries. A proposed Helsinki to Tallinn Tunnel was considered to provide a rail link between the two cities. At the end of April 2021, governments of Estonia and Finland signed a memorandum of understanding committing themselves to cooperation in the area of transport. In February 2024, the tunnel was judged by Finnish Minister of Transport and Communications, Lulu Ranne to be unrealistic and that it was not on the agenda of the government.
Parameters Rail Baltica will be built as a new, publicly owned, fast conventional railway. It will be electrified and equipped with the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) and FRMCS for signalling and communications. The maximum design speed is for passenger trains, while the maximum operational speed will be . It is to operate as a single track railway as part of phase 1 of the project, with a double-track railway remaining in the project's scope. For freight trains, the maximum design speed is . The new railway line will be built as standard gauge. Other key technical parameters include: The maximum freight train length will be . The maximum axle load will be . No level crossings with roads. No flat crossings with the (Russian gauge) rail network. For maintenance and emergency services, access to the main line should be every and in specific areas. The railway will have ballasted track. Its electrification is to use 2 x 25 kV AC. Its double track side should be right-hand running when operational. It is ERTMS Level 2, Baseline 3. It is built to a SE-C loading gauge.
The network's parameters are in accordance with the EU Technical Specifications for Interoperability (TSI – P2, F1).
Project organization Project implementers The Rail Baltica project is implemented by the three Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Finland announced in February 2019 that it would also join the project.
The beneficiaries of the Rail Baltica project are ministries of the three Baltic States: Estonia's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, Latvia's Ministry of Transport, and Lithuania's Ministry of Transport and Communications. In 2014, they established RB Rail AS, a joint venture that acts as the main coordinator and project implementer for the project. Its main business is the design, construction, and marketing of the railway. RB Rail AS also submits EU financing proposals for the Rail Baltica purchasing body for all parties for the procurement of studies, plans, designs for the Global Project, sub-systems (control, command, and signalling and energy/electrification), raw materials, key components, and cross-border track sections.
Rail Baltic Estonia OU in Estonia, Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas SIA in Latvia, and Rail Baltica statyba UAB and LtgInfra in Lithuania are the national implementing bodies. All construction carried out by the implementing bodies is done under the supervision of RB Rail AS and is based on common procurement principles, rules, and contract templates.
Financing
A feasibility study of Rail Baltica in the three Baltic States carried out by AECOM in May 2011 estimated a cost of €3.6 billion for the railway and proved that Rail Baltica is economically viable. Based on that study, key political and practical decisions—both on the national and EU level—were made to implement Rail Baltica.
Since the AECOM study, the project has grown to include additional elements to the Rail Baltica Global Project for better connectivity, passenger mobility, and inter-modality. These additions include routing the Rail Baltica passenger mainline through the Riga International Airport and the construction of the airport passenger station (Latvia), the Kaunas–Vilnius connection (Lithuania), an improved connection in Kaunas (Lithuania), and the construction of the Ülemiste–Tallinn airport tram line (Estonia). Moreover, the preparation of environmental impact assessments, spatial planning, and some preliminary designs has provided better investment estimations for the project.
Thus, in April 2017, the overall cost of the Rail Baltica Global Project implementation in all three countries—including the construction of the Kaunas–Vilnius section—was estimated to be €5.8 billion, according to a cost-benefit study carried out by Ernst & Young and Atkins International experts, based on the European Union's CBA guidelines. The analysis showed that the project was financially feasible and viable, social benefits were proved, and its measurable benefits would outweigh the costs. This provided the necessary updated parameters for continued EU and national co-financing of the project.
The project's profitability lies in its wider socio-economic benefits, which Ernst & Young estimated to be around €16.22 billion. In addition, several immeasurable (mostly catalytic) benefits would be created through regional integration, such as tourism development, new business creation, increased attractiveness to FDI, access to new export markets, technological transfer, and innovation.
The project is financed by the member states, the European Union TEN-T budget, and the Structural and Cohesion Funds provided to the EU New Member States. By the start of 2018, the three Baltic States and RB Rail AS had received two grants totaling €765 million designed under the CEF for the construction of the Rail Baltica railway. On 13 July 2018, a third grant agreement was signed for an additional €130 million, of which €110 million was CEF contribution. In July 2020, another CEF funding was received, amounting to €216 million for construction, technical design, and planning works. In total, the project has received around €1.2 billion from the EU and national funds.
In October 2023, Rail Baltica joint venture of the Baltic States, RB Rail AS, announced the signing of an additional cross-border Grant Agreement for Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) funding, which amounted to 928 million euros CEF support. This substantial funding, combined with national co-financing from the three Baltic States, will exceed €1.1 billion, enabling necessary activities for further high-speed infrastructure development.
As of 2024, the estimated cost of the project increased to €23.8 billion euros, with the phase 1 single track railway estimated at €15.3 billion. A 2024 joint review by the audit institutions of the Baltic states found that the project faced a funding shortfall of €10.1 billion for the first phase and €18.9 billion overall, warning of a likely funding gap in 2027-2028, noting that rolling stock and operating costs were not included in the project budget. A report by the European Court of Auditors in 2026 suggested this estimate may not be accurate, as mature design studies only existed for about a third of the route and the full project no longer had a clear implementation timeline after phase 1.
Project progress
In 2017, all three Baltic parliaments ratified the Inter-Governmental Agreement for the Rail Baltica project, thereby confirming their long-term commitment to the project.
In August 2016, the spatial planning for the entire Rail Baltica railway line was approved in Latvia by the decision of the Latvian Government. This was followed by the approval of the Lithuanian Government in January 2017 for their respective section from Kaunas to the border with Latvia. The route for the section from Kaunas to the border with Poland, known as Rail Baltica I, is subject to the results of an Upgrade Feasibility Study. On 14 February 2018, the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Estonia approved the spatial plan for the line in Estonia, leading to the setting of the final route and preliminary design of the railway in the country. With Estonia's decision, the spatial territorial planning and preliminary technical design of the Rail Baltica railway in the Baltic states was finalised.