08.05.2023
To date, the environmental impact assessments (EIAs) required for the construction of the Rail Baltica railway have been declared compliant for five out of eight sections.
While the Consumer Protection and Technical Surveillance Authority (TTJA) last declared the environmental impact assessment for the nearly 19 km long section from Kangru to the border of Harju and Rapla counties in Harju County to be compliant at the beginning of April, the following sections have now been added, which the authority believes meet the requirements.
Rail Baltic Estonia Environmental Manager Kart Mae According to Mae, the impact assessment process has progressed at a good pace. "To date, five EIA sections out of eight, or practically half of the railway route in Estonia, have been declared compliant with the TTJA requirements. Environmental impact assessment is an important prerequisite for us to be able to move forward with construction," said Mae. According to current plans, construction on these sections could begin within the next couple of years.
39,3 kilometers long From Hagudi to the Rapla-Pärnu county border The EIA of the route section running along the route was carried out in parallel with the preparation of the main railway design. The section located in the central and southern parts of Rapla County passes through predominantly sparsely populated areas, with farmland and forests between the settlements. Of the Natura 2000 network areas, the Taarikõnnu-Kaisma bird sanctuary, which is nationally protected as a permanent forest habitat of the Selja in the part affected by the RB, remains within the impact area of the planned activity in the section of the route under consideration. Possible impacts and disturbances will be mitigated by the designed noise barriers.
The EIA has been conducted based on the principle that the solutions in the main project must be at least as good or better in terms of mitigating their environmental impacts than the solutions presented in the preliminary design. Environmental experts, in cooperation with the designer, helped to prepare suitable solutions to prevent negative environmental impacts and to identify the most effective mitigation measures. In cooperation with fauna experts, suitable measures have been found to ensure the movement of fauna, maintain the quality of habitats and prevent game from getting onto the railway. Noise experts have been helpful in determining the locations and dimensions of noise barriers.
An environmental impact assessment was also carried out on a 16-kilometer section of Rail Baltica Rapla-Pärnu county border – Tootsi, located in the northern part of Pärnu County. The goal of environmental experts, the designer and the railway developer was to find suitable solutions to prevent negative environmental impacts and to identify the most effective mitigation measures that would ensure the movement of fauna, preserve the quality of habitats and prevent game from entering the railway.
This route section is located in the forest and swamp zone of Central Estonia. On the route section, the planned railway passes through three large green network corridors, but bypasses the support areas of the green network. The impact will be mitigated by the construction of numerous animal passages. To ensure the functioning of large animal passages (three ecoducts will be built along the route section), the EIA proposes to create protection zones with a radius of 500 m. The relevant Natura assessment established that the planned activity has no direct impact on the Taarikõnnu nature reserve, but the construction of the railway embankment and side ditches may affect the water regime of the nature reserve in a small area, including a negative impact on the habitat types that are the protection objective. The negative impact on the water regime can be mitigated by closing an old ditch located on the edge of the nature reserve. In order to monitor the effectiveness of the mitigation measure, water regime monitoring is planned in the area expected to be affected. There is no adverse impact on the integrity and protection objectives of the Taarikõnnu nature reserve upon implementation of the mitigation measure.
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