The head of the Latvian branch of RB Rail Ēriks Diļevs has been appointed as the acting head of European Railway Lines (EDzL), as reported by Latvian Ministry of Transport.
Diļevs will remain the acting head of EDzL until a new one has been approved.
The decision regarding the appointment of a new board member is planned for the near future, the ministry notes.
Diļevs has more than 18 years of experience working in the road transport sector. He has been working in RB Rail since 2018. He started out as RB Rail Road and Engineering Communications Office head, but was later appointed as the technical director in Latvia. At the beginning of 2023 Diļevs was made the head of RB Rail Latvian branch. He is responsible for team management, strategic planning and cooperation with sides involved in the project.
Before joining the Rail Baltica team, Diļevs worked in various international projects in Britain, United Arab Emirates and Latvia for more than five years.
On the 26th of April EDzL’s previous board chairman Kaspars Vingris and board member Arnis Staltmanis announced their decision to step down.
The Ministry of Transport accepted their resignations on the 27th of April. The board member, however, remains in his post to ensure uninterrupted functioning of EDzL.
The Rail Baltica project, which has recently highlighted problems with meeting deadlines and acquiring funding, intends to create 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-kilometer-long European railway railway line with a maximum speed of 240 km/h.
Initially it was planned Rail Baltica would cost EUR 5.8 billion. However, the sides involved in the project have mentioned on several occasions that the costs have grown significantly since the initial estimate. A portion of the costs will be covered by the European Union. The plan is to open up Rail Baltica section by section between 2028 and 2030.
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Ēriks Diļevs appointed as acting board chairman of European Railway Lines
