Rail Baltica seeks to link Baltic states with European train network
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.
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