The Ministry of Transport (MoT) has prepared a restricted-access report on the construction schedule for the first phase of the Rail Baltica railway project, Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry of Transport Ģirts Dubkēvičs (P) told the Saeima’s Request Committee on Wednesday.
At Wednesday’s committee meeting, MPs reviewed requests submitted by opposition MPs from the United List to Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (New Unity) and Transport Minister Atis Švinka (P) regarding the Rail Baltica project. Both requests were rejected.
In their submission, MPs asked, among other things, why the Ministry of Transport had not submitted an informational report on the Rail Baltica construction schedule to the government by March 2025, when the Cabinet would review the report on the maximum allowable funding for the project, and what the future financing plan would be.
Dubkēvičs explained that the informational report for internal use on the first-phase construction schedule and the project’s CAPEX was prepared on the 26th of September this year and submitted to the State Chancellery. On the 20th of October, it was forwarded for coordination to the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
Asked why the report is classified,
he said that it contains “a certain level of sensitivity that cannot be disclosed.”
Dubkēvičs added that the MoT is currently dealing with various operational issues related to the project. Additionally, 114 million euros from the EU Recovery Fund has been reallocated to Riga Central Station, as well as 224 million euros from the Cohesion Fund to link Riga Central Station with Riga Airport using the existing rail gauge.
He also said that options are being assessed for applying a Public–Private Partnership (PPP) model to certain segments of the Rail Baltica line.
Saeima MP Andris Kulbergs (United List) expressed concern about the Military Mobility Fund financing allocated for the planned two-level road and railway bridge over the Daugava within the Rail Baltica project. He stressed that there is a high likelihood that the funding could be lost.
Kristīne Pudiste, Deputy State Secretary for Rail Baltica issues, said that the dual bridge has been cost-estimated under existing construction contracts and that it has been concluded that the bridge is too expensive for the Latvian state budget.
“We have established a working group that has decided the dual bridge must be adapted or redesigned,”
she said.
According to a letter from the Ministry of Transport to the committee, the Saeima supported additional funding for Rail Baltica in the second reading of the 2026 state budget — 8 million euros for redesigning and developing optimisation solutions for the southern mainline section from the Lithuanian border to Misa, to remain within the budget available for construction.
According to MoT estimates, investments in redesigning could optimise construction costs by approximately 200 million euros and reduce the burden on future budgets. The ministry has also been tasked with preparing an informational report by the 30th of January, 2026 on reducing administrative expenses for both the Rail Baltica project and the state-owned company European Railway Lines (EDzL).
The ministry further reports that missing funding for future construction stages is planned to be attracted from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and from Cohesion Fund financing available from 2028. Meanwhile, project partners continue work on developing the PPP model intended to accelerate implementation and proceed with sections currently lacking EU funding.
To diversify funding and speed up the cross-border connection with Estonia,
the implementation of the mainline section from Skulte to the Estonian border using a PPP model is being considered,
and information on this has been prepared for the Cabinet of Ministers. To make a final PPP decision, the project scope is currently under assessment to maximise the advantages of private-sector involvement.
Additionally, the Baltic joint venture RB Rail AS has begun preliminary discussions with potential private investors to gauge market interest. The ministry emphasises that the government will be informed about the potential PPP model and required decisions for its launch. In parallel, technical optimisation work continues to ensure cost-efficiency and long-term sustainability.
As previously reported, the cost of the first phase of Rail Baltica in the Baltics may reach 14.3 billion euros, including 5.5 billion euros in Latvia. However, up to 500 million euroscould potentially be saved through technical optimisation, along with other possible savings.
Total project costs across the Baltics, according to the latest cost-benefit analysis, could reach 23.8 billion euros. The previous analysis in 2017 estimated the full project cost at 5.8 billion euros.
The Rail Baltica project provides for the construction of a European-standard-gauge railway line from Tallinn to the Lithuanian–Polish border, enabling rail connections from the Baltic states to the rest of Europe. The plan is to build a new 870 km railway line of 1,435 mm standard gauge, allowing trains to run at a maximum speed of 240 km/h.
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