EU – Baltic States, Latvia, Legislation, Railways, Transport

Currently it is often impossible to come to terms with landlords when certain land plots have to be bought for reconstruction of highways, and this often results in lengthy legal disputes. Land areas that belong to Latvijas dzelzcels railroad company will also be used for the project, Matiss added.

Rail Baltica will have train stops only in downtown Riga and Riga International Airport, he reminded. For cargo trains, a railroad bypassing the downtown will be built following a technical analysis to determine the best route for it.

The railroad connecting downtown Riga with the Riga Airport could be built by 2020 at the earliest, he added.

Last week, a statement at the Procurement Monitoring Bureau's website said that the technical analysis and assessment of the impact on the environment of Rail Baltica in Latvia would be carried out by the association of Konstruktionsgruppe Bauen Latvija, Grupa 93, EPG Eisenbahn und Bauplanungs – Geselschaft mbH Erfurt. The amount of the contract is EUR 3.99 million.

The Rail Baltica project deals with construction of a new 1,435 millimeter standard-gauge railroad in the Baltic countries. The implementation of project could cost EUR 1.27 billion to Latvia and EUR 3.68 billion to the Baltic States altogether. The European Commission could co-fund 85 percent of the project's costs. The request for funding will be submitted to the European Commission in 2015, so construction of the railroad could begin in 2016. Further funding for the project is to be provided as part of the next financial period that will begin in 2020.