In Estonia, the Rail Baltica route corridor was established with county plans in the three counties through which the railway passes.
– The planning process began a year later, in 2013, based on the 2012 order of the Government of the Republic.
– The county governors of Harju, Rapla and Pärnu counties adopted the Rail Baltica county plans in 2016.
– The Minister of Public Administration established the county plans in February 2018.
The plans established a 350-meter-wide route corridor for the railway and related infrastructure (service roads, access roads to plots, level crossings and passages, ecoducts, etc.). The 350-meter route corridor also includes a displacement space, while the actual land requirement of the railway is 66 metersThe so-called displacement requirement compared to the axis of the route corridor defined in the plan was determined during the preliminary design completed in October 2018.
The last public displays of Rail Baltica plans took place in Harju County and Rapla County in July-August 2016, and in Pärnu County in November-December. In Harju County, 5 public discussions were held regarding the plans – in addition to the county-wide discussion, meetings were also held in Maardu, Rae, Kiili and Saku. A county-wide discussion was also held in Rapla, and additional discussions were held in Raikküla, Järvakandi, Kohila and Kehtna. In Pärnu County, 8 public discussions were held in January 2017.
In total, 86 public discussions were held as part of the planning and environmental impact assessment process with more than 4,000 participants!
Explore the Estonian part of Rail Baltica In a GIS map application.
Definitions
Route corridor – the railway route corridor determined by county plans is the land required for the construction of the railway and the railway protection zone together with the “space for shifting” of the route. In sparsely populated areas, the width of the route corridor is 350 m. In Tallinn, Pärnu and larger populated areas where the route corridor runs along an existing railway line (this is an established built environment), the width of the corridor is 150 m.
The planned railway land is located within the route corridor, along with a protection zone, the extent of which is generally 66 m and which will be bordered by a fence approximately from the 35 m line.
Railway land – land under railway and railway infrastructure buildings and structures and land necessary for their service (lines, slopes, maintenance roads, noise barriers, etc.). The extent of the railway land including the protection zone is generally 66 m, the railway land may be wider in the case of special railway solutions (at stations, junctions, additional tracks).
Shifting space – (142 m in sparsely populated areas and 42 m in larger settlements) is necessary to allow for the necessary refinements during the design process. It is not possible to take all the details necessary for the design process into account when preparing county plans, due to the approach inherent in regional planning and the high degree of generalization of the maps being prepared.
Railway protection zone – an area of land designated to ensure the intended operation of the railway and uninterrupted railway traffic and to reduce harmful impacts emanating from the railway. The width of the protection zone is calculated as 30 m from the track axis (on multi-track railways and stations from the axis of the extreme track) (in accordance with the draft Railway Act). According to the currently valid legislation, the width of the protection zone in cities and settlements is 30 m and outside cities and settlements is 50 m.
In the railway protection zone (outside the area enclosed by the fence), the construction of buildings and structures, storage and installation of equipment and materials that endanger visibility in the protection zone may only take place with the prior written consent of the Technical Surveillance Authority and the relevant railway infrastructure manager or other owner or possessor of the railway.
