The Estonian state-owned passenger train company Eesti Liinirongid (Elron) plans to launch direct train services between Tartu and Riga in the summer of this year, company CEO Lauri Betlem, has told LETA.
Betlem says that the company is currently undergoing authorisation of its rolling stock, with the first test run between Valga and Riga scheduled to take place over the next two weeks.
“We hope to launch direct train services between Tartu and Riga this summer,” he added.
Betlem also says that the biggest problem is authorisation of trains in Latvia, which is a process that has taken much longer than had been expected.
The CEO of the Latvian rail passenger carrier Pasazieru Vilciens (PV), Raitis Nespors, says that permission has been given to Elron to test Latvia’s railway infrastructure and to organise test runs.
“The process is moving forward, but perhaps our Estonian colleagues were too optimistic,” Nespors says. “Ten years ago the situation was very different, and now European standards are much stricter.”
Source: BNS
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