Kaspars Vingris, the chairman of the board of European Railway Lines (EDzL), which is responsible for the construction of Rail Baltica in Latvia, has announced his decision to step down, as confirmed by EDzL representatives.
He has submitted his letter of resignation to EDzL shareholder – Ministry of Transport. In it, he states he made this decision for personal reasons.
Vingris was in charge of the company for nearly five years.
Vingris has worked on the implementation of Rail Baltica project since 2014, when he first started working in the Railway Department of the Ministry of Transport and was the Rail Baltica national research project lead.
In 2016, he continued working as Director of the Project Implementation Department of EdzL. In 2019 he was approved as the company’s chairman.
LETA previously reported that Rail Baltica project, which has been experiencing problems with deadlines and use of financing, intends to establish a European standard gauge railway line from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border, so that it would be possible to connect the Baltic States with other European countries further by rail. In the Baltic States, it is planned to build a new 870-kilometre-long European railway line with a maximum speed of 240 km/h.
Initially it was planned Rail Baltica’s costs would reach EUR 5.8 billion. However, the sides involved in the project had stated multiple times that the costs have grown by a lot. A portion of the costs is covered by the European Union. Rail Baltica is planned to be opened up section by section between 2028 and 2030.
In its report for 2023, the State Security Service (VDD) stressed that, despite existing difficulties, no further delays with Rail Baltica are acceptable, adding that rigorous risk management needs to be added to the project.
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Vingris steps down as board chairman of European Railway Lines
