The story of the railway linking the Baltic States with each other and with Europe at large goes back to a time when Estonia had received its money only a few years earlier and the desire to prove itself as a full-fledged part of the European cultural and economic area was increasingly rearing its head.
As early as 1994, the vision document “Vision and strategies around the Baltic Sea 2010” outlined the need for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to be more closely linked to Europe. In 1995, the vision document “National Planning for Estonia 2010”, drawn up at the request of the Government of the Republic, stated, inter alia, that “in passenger transport, the key issue is the establishment of high-speed railways… it can be assumed that if we want EU assistance in the development of transport and its infrastructure, we must increasingly take into account the sustainability-oriented transport policy principles of the European Union, in particular the preference of rail transport for road transport and the preference of train and bus for passenger transport over the use of passenger cars.”.
Estonia’s vision for the future thus saw the need to reconnect with the rest of Europe more than 20 years ago.In 2004, Estonia was accepted into the European Union and decisions affecting rail transport were formulated at European level. A European Commission decision from that time states that rail transport in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania should be gradually integrated into the wider EU rail transport system. The main prerequisite for this integration was, and still is, to connect the wide-gauge railway in Estonia with the narrower gauge railways in the rest of Europe.
Work starts
The European Commission funded a study commissioned by the Baltic States and carried out by the Danish consultancy COWI A/S in 2005-2006 on the different technical alternatives for the Rail Baltica. The aim of this study was to assess the need for a new rail link and to make recommendations on the location of the route, technical standards and other requirements.
However, the start of more concrete cooperation on the Rail Baltica project can be seen in the Protocol of Common Intentions signed in Brussels in March 2006 by Pavel Telicka, the European coordinator of the CoR, and the ministers of the participating countries (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland).
Representatives of the Ministries of Transport of Finland, Poland and the three Baltic States reaffirmed their common intentions in 2010, when a joint memorandum on the further development of Rail Baltica was signed, underlining the need to complete a feasibility study for a railway based on the EU 1435 mm standard. A public tender to carry out the study was won by the British consultancy AECOM.
The study, carried out by AECOM, was completed in May 2011 and discussed by the Cabinet at its meeting in September 2011. The study analysed four possible routes through all three Baltic States, two of which passed through Tartu and two through Pärnu in Estonia. The study showed that building the railway through Pärnu would be more environmentally friendly and less disruptive to people’s way of life, as well as less costly than a longer route through Tartu. In a joint statement in 2011, the prime ministers of the Baltic states endorsed the results of the AECOM study and agreed on further actions for the development of Rail Baltic.
Rail Baltic Estonia birth
2014. aastal an Estonian holding company Rail Baltic Estonia OÜ was established to coordinate the Rail Baltica project, through which it would be possible to acquire a 1/3 stake in the Rail Baltica International Joint Undertaking. On 28 October 2014, representatives of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian governments signed the founding documents of the Rail Baltica Joint Undertaking RB Rail AS.
2015. aasta In July, EU Member States unanimously approved the European Commission’s €11.93 billion transport infrastructure support package, which included support for the Rail Baltica project.
2015. aasta novembris Under the CEF I Financing Agreement, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the three national joint ventures received a total of €540 million for the first phase of the Rail Baltica project – nearly 82% of which was provided by the CEF. Estonia’s share of this is more than €175 million. The support is earmarked for the development of Rail Baltica along the Tallinn-Pärnu-Riia-Panevežys-Kaunas-Lithuania/Poland border.
2016. aasta At the end of September, the Rail Baltica Guidelines, Contracts, Division of Labour – Procurement and Commitments (Contracting Scheme) was signed between all parties (Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian ministries and project developers – companies and the joint venture RB Rail AS). On 15 November of the same year, the CEF II Financing Agreement was signed – of which the Estonian share of the Rail Baltica project’s activities, including Estonia’s own contribution, amounts to approximately EUR 13 million.
2016. aastal as part of the Rail Baltica project, the construction of a tram line between Ülemiste passenger terminal and Tallinn Airport started and will be completed in August 2017.
On 31 January 2017, the prime ministers of the three Baltic States signed the Rail Baltica intergovernmental agreement, which set out in a legally binding document the national commitments needed to build a rail link with Central Europe via the Baltic States. The agreement is one of the prerequisites for the establishment of the Rail Baltica rail link. It aims, among other things, to increase mutual confidence between the Rail Baltic countries in the establishment of a rail link. The agreement defines the general technical parameters of Rail Baltica as well as the route and the deadline for its construction.
Shortly before Midsummer Day, on 19 June 2017, the Riigikogu ratified the Rail Baltica International Agreement by 63 votes to one, which was also proclaimed by the President of the Republic of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, on 29 June.
On 24 April 2017, Ernst&Young presented a cost-benefit analysis of the Rail Baltica project. The analysis concluded that the project is particularly beneficial from a societal perspective, as the socio-economic benefits outweigh the costs.
13 and 14 February 2018, the Minister of State Administration approved the regional plans for Harju County, Pärn County and Rapla County necessary for the planning of Rail Baltica.
On 11 October 2018, the preliminary design of the Estonian part of Rail Baltica was completed, specifying the scope of works and budget for the Estonian section of the railway link. The preliminary design estimated the cost of the Rail Baltica Estonia route at €1.6 billion, which is around 18% more than the preliminary design of 2015. According to the budget specified in the preliminary design, and based on the current assumption of 85% co-financing from the European Union, the total co-financing for the Estonian part of the project is estimated at €318 million.
On 29 March 2019, the first main design contract for the Rail Baltica route in Estonia was signed with the Spanish company IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture. The first project will be the 71-kilometre section from the Rapla county border to Toots in Pärnu County. The section will include 13 road overpasses, nine railway overpasses, nine eco-overpasses and four railway bridges. The value of the contract, excluding VAT, is €6.8 million.
On 28 November 2019, the cornerstone was laid for the first object of the Rail Baltica main line, the Saustinõmme viaduct, which also marks the start of the construction of the Rail Baltica high-speed rail link. The construction of Rail Baltica was launched by Prime Minister Jüri Ratas and Henrik Hololei, Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Transport.
