Latvian minister committed to completing Rail Baltica’s Riga-Lithuania line by 2026

Latvia is committed to completing the Riga-Lithuania line of Rail Baltica railway project by 2026, said Minister of Transport Tālis Linkaits on 25 November.
The minister said Rail Baltica is the project of a century for Latvia. This railway line will serve as the missing link for TEN-T corridor. Rail Baltica will be a part of the single European railway network as well.
Linkaits stressed that Latvia is committed to finishing Rail Baltica project as soon as possible, but no later than 2030. He said the main line leading to the Lithuanian border will be finished by 2026.
The minister also said that in 2023 it is planned to finish the base railway line’s design phase and commence south-bound construction in order to create the cross-border connection with Kaunas. He said this will be followed up by construction in Estonia’s direction in order to complete this Rail Baltica connection by 2030.
RB Rail board chairman and CEO Agnis Driksna says the current goal is completing all preparations in 2022-2024 so that the entire Rail Baltica line is ready for construction.
For 2026-2030 it is planned for trains to start running on the railway line.
Rail Baltica project provides for establishing European-standard railway width line from Tallinn all the way to the Lithuanian-Polish border so that Baltic States would be connected with other EU member states via railway.
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