The joint company of the three Baltic States “RB Rail” has submitted a request for more than EUR 325 million for Rail Baltica in the new Connecting Europe Facility breach, as LETA was told by representatives of RB Rail.
In Latvia, funding has been applied for the southern section of the Rail Baltica base track in the direction from the Lithuanian border to Salaspils for the next construction phase, which includes the construction of a 14.2 km railway embankment. The additional application includes the first phase of the Rail Baltica electrification technical project in section from the Latvian-Lithuanian border to Upeslejas, as well as project implementation support measures.
Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens mentioned at a meeting of the Saeima Economic, Agricultural, Environmental and Regional Policy Committee that the financing Latvia has applied for is approximately EUR 160 million. “We cannot apply for more funding because we have come close to the peak funding level available to us in the past seven years,” said the minister.
It is planned that efforts in Lithuania will focus on several strategic elements, including three structures in the section of Kaunas node railway base track, as well as the development of a full-scale electrification technical project from the Latvian border to the Polish border, the design of regional stations and executive design services. The plan also includes the purchase of land for 30% of the section between the Polish border and the Kaunas city hub.
In Estonia, on the other hand, the application includes the construction of a 10.1 km long double-track embankment on the section from Kärpla to Selja, including railway substructures and civil engineering tasks.
RB Rail notes that in addition to national activities, Rail Baltica cross-border activities will continue, which will be implemented by RB Rail and co-financed by the three Baltic States. RB Rail will continue to coordinate the global project in the field of systems engineering and project management, including CEF activity management, global project coordination, planning and verification, and ENE technical design support activities.
It is planned for submitted projects to be reviewed by July 2025.
After the notification of the decision of the European Commission (EC) to grant support to selected projects, a new financing agreement will be concluded in the autumn.
The joint company states that last year, a framework contract for the construction of the main track was signed in Latvia, covering 228 km with the initial construction of a 40-km section at the Lithuanian border. In Estonia last year, construction contracts covered 73.87 km of railway embankment with an additional 32.59 km, for which it is planned to announce procurement in the coming weeks.
In Lithuania, construction of the main track embankment and engineering structures continued for 46.3 km, as well as procurement for an additional 12.1 km. Lithuania plans to announce additional procurements in 2025, with a total of 114 km of works being carried out this year.
RB Rail points out that currently about 160 km of the base track and related infrastructure are under construction in all three Baltic States.
In turn, taking into account the ongoing procurement processes for the main railway subsystems and the current pace of work, it is planned to achieve construction readiness for 43% of the main track by the end of 2025.
It is also noted that the project has been provided with more than EUR 4 billion euros of funding with significant contributions from the European Union (EU) and member states. To address inflationary cost increases, Rail Baltica is considering new funding mechanisms, including public-private partnership (PPP) solutions and the use of EU military mobility funds.
Marko Kivila, Chairman of the Board of RB Rail, points out that the competition for CEF funding call is very strong. Nevertheless, RB Rail is optimistic about a positive result, as this funding is critical for accelerating the progress of the construction of Rail Baltica in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
LETA previously reported that this year, on the 14th of January, in the closed part of the meeting, the Latvian government was presented with the informative report prepared by the Ministry of Transport on the priority activities of the Rail Baltica project in Latvia’s application for the eleventh round for projects of the Baltic States (CEF11) and supported the submission of the application.
In September 2024, the European Commission announced the eleventh project call for funding from the CEF, which has so far been the main source of funding for the Rail Baltica project. In total, EUR 1.2 billion of funding is available to support rail infrastructure projects, with an aid intensity of up to 85%, for which applications can only be submitted by Cohesion Fund member states.
It is also the last call for projects for EU funds in the 2021-2027 planning period, in which applications will be evaluated according to their importance at the European level and degree of readiness.
It was also reported that on the 10th of December, 2024, the Latvian government conceptually agreed that by November 2025, a technical-economic analysis of the connection of Riga to the “Rail Baltica” base track will have to be carried out.
The Ministry of Transport has until the 1st of November 2025 to work with the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economics and submit to the Cabinet of Ministers a technical economic analysis and evaluation of the possibilities of attracting private investment to connect Riga to the Rail Baltica base track by constructing a European railway infrastructure with a gauge of 1 435 mm to one of the two international stations – whether from Upeslejas to Riga Central Station or from the Misa to Riga International Airport.
RB Rail estimates that the implementation of the Upesleja-Riga Central Station connection would require EUR 629 million, whereas the Misa-Riga Airport section would require EUR 924 million.
Still, the priority remains to make Rail Baltica’s cross-border connection from the Lithuanian and all the way to the Estonian border in accordance with the plan and available funding, as well as complete construction work on Rail Baltica passenger station at Riga Airport, as well as the southern portion of Riga Central Station at least on a minimal level in order to ensure functionality in accordance with existing railway infrastructure. The transfer option between Rail Baltica and the existing 1 520 mm railway line needs to be completed in Salaspils.
The government has that by July 2025, the Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economics must put together and submit a total maximum price ceiling for the project, based on the economic justification of the project, as well as continue to work on proposals for the attraction of additional financial instruments and the continuity of funding for 2026-2028.
The total cost of the project according to the cost-benefit analysis in the Baltics can reach EUR 23.8 billion. In the previous cost-benefit analysis in 2017, it was estimated that the project will cost a total of EUR 5.8 billion.