On Tuesday, the 26th of November, heated discussions broke out in the Latvian government between Minister of Transport Kaspars Briškens and Prime Minister Evika Siliņa. The two clashed over the idea of evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of the Riga Central Station-Upesleja and Riga Airport-Misa connection with Rail Baltica’s cross-border railway track.
Siliņa called out Briškens during the government meeting. “We’re running around in circles specifically because you remain adamant with the idea that Riga [connection] needs to be completed in the first stage. We don’t have the money for that! You yourself still haven’t brought us a solution! It’s a utopia to talk about finding some public and private partnership (PPP) for Riga. If we ever need PPP, it would be for us to connect the main track with some first functional point to connect Riga with Vivi [trains]! Let’s be honest!” said the PM.
“Then don’t say the Ministry of Transport will bring in the missing billions. We don’t have such capabilities,” said Briškens.
Siliņa said the management of the Ministry of Transport has unrealistic plans. “Then bring us the money! This has been the case this whole time – bring up an unrealistic plan and then ask the Ministry of Finance or the Prime Minister for money. If you want to fight for money – bring me a realistic plan. This plan is unrealistic – to bring Riga something someday,” said the PM.
Siliņa said she will need to choose whether to ensure functional connection or have a train go all the way to Riga. She said she will once funding has been found to cover all the costs for the connection with Riga, with Vivi. “And our people will be able to reach the airport and Riga by train and by means of Rail Baltica all the way from the regions,” said Siliņa.
At the same time, the PM said the government will not pay double for a connection with Riga.
The report submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers by the Ministry of Transport states that it is planned to carry out a technical-economic analysis of the sections Upesleja-Riga Central Station and Misa-Riga Airport in order to assess the possibilities of establishing a European gauge rail connection with one of Riga’s international stations in the first round of Rail Baltica project.
The PM wanted to know how much this assessment would cost. “I don’t want to support anything right now, because there is no funding for that,” she said.
RB Rail board member Kitija Gruškevica mentioned that RB Rail could perform the analysis at a minimal level, using local engineers. “We can move forward step by step. The first step is connecting Riga using existing infrastructure,” said the PM.
The Prime Minister said she understands why this analysis needs to be done, but it could take away the focus from the project itself. “We have to understand there is a shortage of funding. We can work towards EU funding, but we have to keep in mind this is the money of all three Baltic States.”