Minister of Transport Atis Švinka (P) will propose supplementing and clarifying the report submitted by Latvia’s national implementer of the Rail Baltica railway project, SIA Eiropas dzelzceļa līnijas (EDzL), regarding already constructed parts of structures that require conservation due to changes in the project’s implementation sequence, including the overpass pier in the Daugava River.
Švinka said he has received the EDzL report, but it contains many “assumptions and estimates” where a clear plan is needed. In addition, some construction elements that require conservation were not included, raising further questions.
“There was no concrete action plan or timelines, therefore in the Ministry of Transport’s response letter we will draw attention to several issues, meaning the report must be supplemented and clarified,” the minister said.
Asked about the funding planned for conservation works, Švinka said the EDzL report lacked specificity and even indicative estimates, so it is not possible to discuss funding sources on that basis. “When this document is submitted, then we will be able to assess the next steps,” Švinka noted.
Writing on Twitter, Švinka stated that, first,
work on implementing the conservation project must begin this year and,
second, conservation must apply to the railway bridge pillar and span over the Daugava, the supports of the Riga Airport railway station section in the direction of Mārupe, as well as sheet piling and other engineering solutions related to these structures.
The provisional cost of conservation for the section near Riga Central Station and the Daugava pier is currently estimated at around €304,000 excluding value-added tax, the minister said.
He explained that this situation is a direct consequence of decisions taken in the Rail Baltica project in 2022 during the term of then Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits. Those decisions were закрепed through the submission and European Commission (EC) approval of the CEF9 application for European Union (EU) funding.
Švinka added that in 2024 Latvia had to choose either to forgo €28.6 million in CEF funding or to implement the previously approved scope of works in the Riga central hub section, including construction of the railway bridge over the Daugava.
Latvia had asked the EC to reallocate the funds to other sections, but this was not possible, the minister said.
He explained that, given the strict linkage of CEF funding to specific activities and the fact that, in the long term, a second railway bridge over the Daugava is unavoidable, a decision was taken not to lose the funding and to construct at least one bridge pier with a span.
As previously reported by LETA, conservation of the Rail Baltica overpass built over Lastādijas and Krasta streets, including the pier in the Daugava, could cost between €300,000 and €550,000, EDzL informed LETA.
The company noted that construction of the overpass over Lastādijas and Krasta streets was completed in the first quarter of 2025. It is a 140-metre-long road overpass structure, one of whose piers was built in the Daugava River and whose deck extends over the river. EDzL stressed that construction of the bridge over the Daugava itself was not started.
EDzL explained that it is not necessary to conserve the entire overpass;
conservation is required only where the overpass span extends beyond the second pier, the so-called exposed span section.
The provisional costs include preparation of the conservation design for the completed engineering structure and the costs of the conservation works themselves, which will depend on the chosen conservation method. Conservation costs would amount to approximately 1.1–2.1% of the total cost of the constructed overpass, which was €26 million.
It is planned that preparation of the conservation design will take place in the first quarter of this year. Once the conservation project is developed, the exact costs of the conservation works will be known.
As previously reported, the Ministry of Transport had instructed EDzL to submit cost calculations by Friday, 23 January, for conservation of the Rail Baltica pier in the Daugava and for suspending the remaining scope of the Riga hub.
Prime Minister Evika Siliņa (JV) has stated that responsibility must be taken for the unfinished pillar
and that an investigation into project management is under way. EDzL has previously confirmed that the pier will be conserved this year.
Meanwhile, the board of the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) has called on the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens (JV) to initiate disciplinary proceedings to assess responsibility and potential damages related to the unfinished Rail Baltica pier in the Daugava.
It has also been reported that, according to information from RB Rail, the cost of the first phase of Rail Baltica in the Baltic states could reach €14.3 billion, of which €5.5 billion would be in Latvia. However, potential savings of up to €500 million may be achieved through optimization of technical solutions, along with other possible savings.
According to the cost-benefit analysis, total project costs in the Baltic states could reach €23.8 billion. In a previous cost-benefit analysis conducted in 2017, the total cost of the project was estimated at €5.8 billion.
The Rail Baltica project envisages the construction of a European-standard-gauge railway line from Tallinn to the Lithuanian–Polish border, connecting the Baltic states by rail to the rest of Europe. In the Baltic states, it is planned to build a new 870-kilometre-long European gauge (1,435 mm) railway line with a maximum train speed of 240 km/h.
EDzL is a wholly state-owned company with share capital of €4.445 million.
Read also: Rail Baltica finally moves forward in Latvia – construction to begin on a 30–35 km section