Rail Baltica seeks to link Baltic states with European train network

DW (English)

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are investing billions in a new transportation project connecting their rail networks. But they need to overcome many political and construction challenges and spend a lot of money.

Transcript

00:00Rudolf Janowski is on his way to meet the challenge of his life.

00:05He's working on the biggest infrastructure project in the history of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the rail Baltica.

00:13The tracks have to cross several rivers, including the Daugava in Riga.

00:17To build a bridge over Daugava, it's not happen every day, it's one time in the life opportunity.

00:24This is the biggest river in Latvia and I'm a bridge engineer.

00:28And for every Latvian guy it's a dream to build a bridge over the river.

00:34870 kilometers of track, they come with architectural, financial and political challenges.

00:42The line is set to run between Tallinn and Warsaw.

00:45The builders have to buy up land, cut down forests and plan the exact route.

00:50Sometimes there comes a new minister of transport who says,

00:54OK, I need to provide a new connection there and there.

00:57I need to provide, let's say, some kind of decisions together with, for example, road expansion projects.

01:04And OK, I can understand from government strategic perspective, but there is a limit how long you can do it.

01:11For the project engineers, every change in policy means the tracks have to be planned anew, usually with costs rising.

01:19Rail Baltica was expected to cost 6 billion euros.

01:22Most of it comes from EU coffers.

01:25Currently 24 billion seem more accurate and work will take much longer than expected.

01:34Up until 2030 we will implement the parts of the project which are really necessary

01:40in order to get the train running from Poland up until Tallinn.

01:44And some aspects of the project we will phase out beyond 2030.

01:49The planners have learned to make do with what they have.

01:52Instead of two parallel tracks, just one track is enough for now.

01:56Critics agree the government, they say, has to focus on what's absolutely necessary.

02:02So we have to stop doing the nice-to-have things,

02:07like, for example, building the Riga Central Railway Station as a huge station.

02:13We should actually focus on the number priority.

02:16Build the line that connects Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn to Berlin and Warsaw.

02:23Not doing the fancy extra things which we can do later.

02:28As of yet, Baltic trains have been running on tracks left over from Soviet times.

02:33They have a wider track width.

02:35That means that trains from the Baltic states have to be switched onto cars with a European track system to get into Poland.

02:42For Lithuania, connecting the old system to the European track network is a Herculean effort.

02:47Vytautas Cilinskas is the engineer in charge of the route between Kaunas in Lithuania and the border to Latvia.

02:54He feels rushed ever since Russia's war in Ukraine makes Rail Baltica a more urgent project.

03:01Basically, that's changed the supply chain,

03:04because some materials that usually was brought from Russia, Belarus, for example,

03:10now we cannot buy it.

03:12So, for example, steel, the rebars, the cement,

03:17now we are buying from the Polish or from another company and that's increasing the project price.

03:26Adding to the pressure is NATO.

03:28They say that Rail Baltica could play a major role in moving military goods in future.

03:35A civilian project, but with huge military implications,

03:39because it will increase the abilities for NATO reinforcements to flow into Lithuania,

03:47but not only Lithuania, but also the rest of the Baltic countries.

03:51Russia's war in Ukraine has awoken the West.

03:54For the Baltic states, independence from Moscow is more important than ever,

03:58and Rail Baltica is benefiting from this new sense of urgency.

04:03For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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