Baltic joint company RB Rail will spend around EUR 17 million on wages this year, according to information compiled by LTV programme “Kas notiek Latvijā?”.
Authors of the programme say that since 2017, which was the last time there was an estimate of Rail Baltica’s costs, the personnel costs of RB Rail have increased more than eight times. This year, however, the increase will be lower.
The letter from RB Rail to the Latvian Prime Minister presented by the programme mentions that in September 2024, the remuneration of five board members of RB Rail was between EUR 10 000 and almost EUR 27 000. Management and technical directors were paid EUR 26 865 and EUR 21 865, respectively, whereas the other three board members were paid between EUR 10 131 and EUR 10 404.84.
The company’s annual account for 2023 shows that RB Rail’s personnel costs had reached EUR 16.12 million last year. In turn, a statement released in early November said that by reducing the budget for 2024, personnel costs were reduced by about 16% or 3.2 million euros, according to the program.
Thus, if there had not been a reduction in RB Rail’s costs, the company’s personnel costs would have reached EUR 20 million this year, but in total, the personnel will be paid more this year after the reduction than last year, authors of the program concluded.
The programme also reports that last year, the average monthly salary for eight “international level” senior experts and management was EUR 12 088, while the average salary for 19 “senior management” employees was EUR 5 900.
Eleven “international-level experts” had an average salary of EUR 5 350, while 41 “mid-level managers” had an average salary of EUR 4 950. The largest group of employees, 93 employees, are “senior specialists and experts” with an average salary of EUR 3 710. The remaining 36 of more than 200 RB Rail employees were paid an average of EUR 2 400 per month.
RB Rail has a total of 210 employees. 155 of them are employed in Latvia.
RB Rail was registered in 2014 with base capital of EUR 1.95 million, according to data from Firmas.lv.
On Tuesday, the 26th of November, the Latvian government will start reviewing the report from the Ministry of Transport on the implementation of the first stage of Rail Baltica project.
Information from the Legislative Acts Portal shows that the Cabinet of Ministers has plans to order the Ministry of Transport to work together with RB Rail and European Railway Lines and ensure a reduction of Rail Baltica project’s costs. This includes lowering administrative costs.
Additionally, the report from supreme audit institutions of Baltic States, the report on the project’s current state currently lacks any clarity as to Rail Baltica railway line’s use and management models.
According to the latest information from RB Rail, the first-round costs of Rail Baltica in the Baltic States could reach EUR 14.3 billion, of which in Latvia – EUR 5.5 billion, however, potential savings of up to EUR 400 million from the optimization of technical solutions are possible, as well as other savings are possible.
The total cost of the project in Baltic States, according to cost/benefit analysis, may reach EUR 23.8 billion.
The previous cost/benefit analysis from 2017, however, estimated the costs would likely reach EUR 5.8 billion.