Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania on Wednesday announced a joint procurement for ordering regional trains for Rail Baltica. However, uncertainty remains over when the railway will be completed.
The tender from the three countries’ train operators specifies that the first trains must be delivered by 2029 and enter service by the end of 2030.
Latvia will order up to five trains, Lithuania up to eight, and Estonia up to five, with the option to add two more later.
Infrastructure Minister Kuldar Leis (Reform) said Estonia had learned from previous experience that there is high demand for rail travel.
“In other words, the popularity of train travel increased so much that as soon as we put new trains on the line, passengers immediately increased and we immediately needed to purchase more [trains]. It simply takes so many years, so now we have learned from this — we are leaving some flexibility so that we can order additional trains more quickly,” he said.
Read more: ERR.EE
