In March, the state-owned company Latvijas dzelzceļš (Latvian Railways) warned the Ministry of Transport that, due to safety concerns, electric train operations may have to be suspended within five to ten years unless the overhead contact line system is completely rebuilt, according to a report by the TV3 program Nekā personīga (“Nothing Personal”).
The warning was signed by officials from Latvijas dzelzceļš and the State Railway Technical Inspectorate. The report states that this issue arose because European Union funds initially allocated for the renewal of the contact network are now planned to be reallocated to other projects, such as the Rail Baltica connection to the airport.
Officials have indicated that half of the system’s structures are in critical condition.
The worst situation is on the routes between Riga and Ogre, and between Zemitāni and Skulte. Currently, or in the near future, work will begin on modernizing 200 kilometers of the network – the longest stretches being towards Jelgava and Sloka. In other lines, only small segments will be renewed. However, 300 kilometers and old transformers will remain untouched. The program reports that several hundred million euros are needed for the full upgrade.
Chairman of the Board of Latvijas dzelzceļš, Artis Grinbergs, told the program that the company is working on a “Plan B” with its shareholder, aiming to convince the government of the necessity for this additional funding.
“In the context of Plan B – as a company, we are prepared to go to international financial markets and borrow the necessary funding. It’s clear that we would need a multi-year agreement with the state specifying the volumes ordered for maintaining Latvia’s railway infrastructure,” Grinbergs said.
Until a solution is found, Latvijas dzelzceļš is implementing systems to help detect faults in time. For example, they plan to install cameras. All involved parties insist that there is no threat to passenger safety.
The program also noted that previous modernization works have experienced major delays, with original deadlines postponed by years.
These works were carried out by private construction companies. Now, Latvijas dzelzceļš hopes to obtain permission from the European Commission to carry out urgent modernization work as a state enterprise.
The program also discovered that a year ago, due to issues with the contact network, one of the old electric trains stationed overnight at Ķemeri Station caught fire. A short circuit occurred in the train, but the railway contact system failed to respond appropriately, and the power supply was not shut off. The train subsequently caught fire. This was the first such incident in the last 40 years.
At the time, the train was empty, and no one was injured. The damaged train was an ER2 model produced by the Riga Wagon Factory, originally manufactured in the 1960s. This model is no longer in use.
“That was, to some extent, a wake-up call for all of us – that we need to assess things pragmatically, understand, and take a hard look at the real state of the infrastructure,” Grinbergs admitted.
At the end of March, the news agency LETA reported that the repair of pantographs on the new electric trains produced by the Czech company Škoda Vagonka has so far cost nearly €100,000, according to representatives of Pasažieru vilciens(Passenger Train).
Pasažieru vilciens explained that there have been four cases of pantograph damage, three of which were linked to the technical condition of the contact network.
LETA has also reported on multiple occasions that train services have been delayed or canceled due to contact network failures.
Pasažieru vilciens was established in 2001, separating domestic passenger transport from the functions performed by Latvijas dzelzceļš. It was previously a 100% subsidiary of Latvijas dzelzceļš but was restructured into a state-owned enterprise in October 2008. Last year, the company transported 19.44 million passengers.
Meanwhile, the Latvijas dzelzceļš group had a turnover of €263.529 million in 2023, an increase of 3.4% compared to 2022, but the group still suffered a loss of €3.231 million. LDz is the manager of the public railway infrastructure and the parent company of the LDz group.