Various opportunities are being explored to reduce costs in the implementation of the Rail Baltica railway project, said Minister of Transport Atis Švinka (Progressives) in an interview with TV3’s 900 Seconds program on Wednesday.
“We will seek every opportunity to cut costs,” said Švinka, while also noting that Rail Baltica is historically the most complex railway infrastructure project in the Baltics and must be implemented both efficiently and with quality.
Švinka also pointed out that nowhere in Europe has a high-speed rail line been built for €5.7 million per kilometer, as claimed by Estonia. In reality, the average construction cost for high-speed rail ranges between €13 million and €22 million per kilometer. “Of course, such a figure sounds ideal, but in the end, when the route is completed, it will be very challenging for Estonia to maintain the figure of €5.7 million per kilometer,” he said.
Švinka emphasized that his task is to reduce costs on the Latvian section of the route, and he is actively working on it.
“My focus is on practical work and visible progress – so the public sees that we are building and moving forward,” the minister stated.
As previously reported, according to the latest information from RB Rail, the first phase of Rail Baltica could cost up to €14.3 billion across the Baltics, with €5.5 billion allocated to Latvia. However, there is potential for savings of up to €500 million through optimization of technical solutions, as well as additional savings elsewhere.
The total estimated cost of the project in the Baltics may reach €23.8 billion.
In contrast, the 2017 analysis had estimated total project costs at €5.8 billion.
The Rail Baltica project envisions the construction of a European standard gauge (1,435 mm) railway line from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border, connecting the Baltic states by rail with the rest of Europe. The planned railway line across the Baltics will be 870 kilometers long, with train speeds of up to 240 km/h.