The story of the railway connecting the Baltic States with each other and, more broadly, with Europe, dates back to a time when Estonia had only just gained its independence a few years earlier and was increasingly keen to prove itself as a fully-fledged member of the European cultural and economic space.
As early as 1994, the vision document "Vision and strategies around the Baltic Sea 2010" described the need to connect Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania more strongly with Europe. In 1995, the vision document "National Planning ESTONIA 2010," compiled at the request of the Government of the Republic, stated, among other things: "The key issue in passenger transport is the construction of high-speed railways... It can be assumed that if we want EU assistance in the development of transport and its infrastructure, we must take greater account of the European Union's sustainability-oriented transport policy principles, in particular the preference for rail transport over road transport and the preference for trains and buses over cars in passenger transport."
More than 20 years ago, Estonia's vision for the future already saw the need to reconnect us with the rest of Europe. In 2004, Estonia was accepted into the European Union, and decisions affecting rail transport were also formulated at the European level. A European Commission decision from that time states that the rail transport systems of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania must be gradually integrated into the broader EU rail transport system. The main prerequisite for the integration was, and still is, the connection of the broad-gauge railway common in Estonia with the narrower gauge common elsewhere in Europe.
Work begins
The European Commission funded a study commissioned by the Baltic States and conducted by the Danish consulting firm COWI A/S in 2005-2006 on various technical alternatives for the Rail Baltica railway. The aim of the study was to assess the need for a new rail link and to make recommendations on the location of the route, technical standards, and other requirements.
However, the start of more concrete cooperation on the Rail Baltica project can be considered to be the signing of a memorandum of understanding in Brussels in March 2006 by Pavel Telicka, the European coordinator for RB, and the ministers of the countries participating in the project (Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Finland).
Representatives of the transport ministries of Finland, Poland, and the three Baltic states reaffirmed their joint intentions in 2010, when they signed a joint memorandum on the further development of Rail Baltica, emphasizing the need to complete a feasibility study for a railway based on the EU 1435 mm standard. The British consulting firm AECOM won the contract to conduct the public procurement study.
The study conducted by AECOM was completed in May 2011 and discussed by the Cabinet at its meeting in September of the same year. The study analyzed four possible routes through all three Baltic countries – two of them passed through Tartu and two through Pärnu in Estonia. The study showed that building the railway through Pärnu would have less impact on nature and people's lives, and would also be less expensive than the longer route through Tartu. In their joint statement in 2011, the prime ministers of the Baltic countries approved the results of the AECOM study and agreed on further activities related to the development of Rail Baltic.
The birth of Rail Baltic Estonia
In 2014, the Estonian holding company Rail Baltic Estonia OÜ was established to coordinate the Rail Baltica project, through which it would be possible to acquire a 1/3 stake in the Rail Baltica international joint venture. On October 28, 2014, representatives of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed the founding documents of the Rail Baltica joint venture RB Rail AS.
In July 2015, the member states of the European Union unanimously approved the European Commission's transport infrastructure support package totaling €11.93 billion, part of which was allocated to the Rail Baltica project.
Under the CEF I financing agreement concluded in November 2015, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the joint venture Rail Baltica, in which the three countries participate, received a total of €540 million for the implementation of the initial phase of the project, with nearly 82% of this amount allocated from the CEF. Estonia's share of this was over €175 million. The support is earmarked for the development of Rail Baltica in the direction of Tallinn-Pärnu-Riga-Panevežys-Kaunas-Lithuania/Poland border.
At the end of September 2016, all parties (the ministries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, the project developers and companies, and the joint venture RB Rail AS) signed the Rail Baltica guidelines, agreements, division of labor, procurement, and obligations agreement (Contracting Scheme). On November 15 of the same year, the CEF II financing agreement was signed, with Estonia's contribution to the Rail Baltica project amounting to approximately €13 million.
In 2016, construction began on a tram line between Ülemiste Travel Terminal and Tallinn Airport as part of the Rail Baltica project, which will be completed in August 2017.
On January 31, 2017, the prime ministers of the three Baltic states signed an intergovernmental agreement on Rail Baltica, which legally established the obligations of the countries necessary for establishing a rail connection between the Baltic states and Central Europe. The agreement is one of the prerequisites for the establishment of the Rail Baltica rail link. Among other things, its purpose is to increase mutual trust between the Rail Baltica member states in the establishment of the rail link. The agreement defined the general technical parameters of Rail Baltica, as well as the route and the deadline for its establishment.
Shortly before Midsummer Day, on June 19, 2017, the Riigikogu ratified the Rail Baltica international agreement with 63 votes in favor, which was also announced by the President of the Republic of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, on June 29.
On April 24, 2017, Ernst & Young presented a cost-benefit analysis of the Rail Baltica project. The analysis concluded that the project is particularly beneficial from a societal perspective, as the socio-economic benefits outweigh the costs of the project.
On February 13 and 14, 2018, the Minister of Public Administration approved the Harju, Pärnu, and Rapla county plans necessary for the planning of Rail Baltica.
On October 11, 2018, the preliminary design for the Estonian section of Rail Baltica was completed, specifying the scope of work and budget for the Estonian route of the railway connection. The preliminary project estimated the cost of the Estonian section of Rail Baltica at EUR 1.6 billion, which is approximately 18% more than was estimated in the draft solution prepared in 2015. According to the budget specified in the preliminary project and based on the current assumption that the European Union will continue to provide 85% co-financing, the total co-financing for the Estonian section of the project is estimated at €318 million.
On March 29, 2019, the first basic design contract for the Estonian section of Rail Baltica was signed with the Spanish company IDOM Consulting, Engineering, Architecture. The first section to be designed will be the 71-kilometer stretch from the Rapla county border to Tootsi in Pärnu County. The plan is to build 13 road viaducts, nine railway viaducts, nine eco-ducts, and four railway bridges on this section. The value of the contract, excluding VAT, is €6.8 million.
On November 28, 2019, the cornerstone of the first object on the main route of Rail Baltica, the Saustinõmme viaduct, was laid, marking the start of construction of the Rail Baltica high-speed rail link. The construction of Rail Baltica was launched by Prime Minister Jüri Ratas and Henrik Hololei, Director-General of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Transport.
