Estonians increasingly frustrated by Rail Baltica's slow progress in Latvia

Driving through Estonia, the presence of Rail Baltica is hard to miss. Currently, work is underway in Estonia on approximately 200 kilometers of the main track. Unlike Latvia, its neighbours have prioritized construction of the line itself, not stations. Embankments and overpasses already physically mark the future path of the tracks in many places.

"Last year was truly a turning point for Estonia. Many important milestones have been reached. Tenders have been announced for the entire main line and construction contracts have been signed. At the very end of last year, we already gave several construction orders to contractors to start work on the southern sections as well," said Anvar Salomets, Chairman of the Board of Rail Baltic Estonia [in Estonia the project is often referred to as 'Rail Baltic' rather than 'Rail Baltica'].

While there is still a large amount of uncertainty regarding the construction of the track in Latvia, the neighbours have faced the opposite problem - there is so much work going on that capacity is starting to run out.

Estonia is simultaneously building not only a railway, but also major highways to Pärnu and Tartu, overloading the local construction market.

"We are already seeing a certain shortage of available resources in the second half of this year. And, of course, one of them is labor, the second is equipment, and the third is materials," commented Salomets.

Behind this relatively ambitious construction pace of Rail Baltica lies another important indicator - the project's costs.

In Estonia, plans are underway to build each kilometre of finished railway at a cost of around 12 million euros. In Latvia, however, according to current estimates, this amount is only enough to construct the foundation base, on the section from Misa to the Lithuanian border.

"The total budget in Estonia is 3.6 billion euros. Currently, we have already secured and fixed 1.9 billion. This means that after 2028 we will need a little more than 1.6 billion euros. I think this is an achievable goal, and everything is going according to plan," said Kuldar Leis, the Estonian Minister of Infrastructure.

Unlike Lithuania, which will be directly connected to Poland via Rail Baltica, Estonia can only reach Europe via Latvia. This means that the success of the project in Estonia will to a large extent depend on how quickly Latvia can complete its section.

Looking at Latvia's progress, Estonian officials have so far maintained a diplomatic attitude. The Minister of Infrastructure admitted in an interview with Latvian Television that Latvia had started the project from a different end, namely by focusing more on the Riga station and airport station, while Estonia had given priority to the main route. In his opinion, the biggest risk at the moment is political, namely whether both countries will continue to consider the project a priority.

While officials are polite in their statements, public opinion about Latvia in relation to Rail Baltica is much more sceptical, local journalists confirm.

"Apart from politicians, public opinion is, how can I say, quite rude. There are people who are absolutely convinced that the railway will not be built until 2030 or even 2040. Questions are being asked why money should be spent on railway construction and the purchase of trains at all if Estonia's most important destination – Rīga – will be unreachable for the next ten years anyway. And then, I'm sorry to say it, but there are people who very openly say that Latvia has mismanaged this whole process. They also ask whether the money that was intended for railway construction was misappropriated, somehow stolen or foolishly spent on those two huge terminals that are still not ready," explained Anvar Samost, editor-in-chief of the News and Sports Department of the Estonian public media ERR.

"Perhaps it would be good for Estonia to say stronger words to the Latvians – are you really going to build it or not? Because we really wouldn't want to experience a situation where we build a very expensive high-speed railway only to Pärnu," ​​commented TV3 Eesti news reporter Sven Soiver.

Despite Estonia moving ahead with the project faster than Latvia, the European Commission's declared 2030 deadline for the completion of Rail Baltica is also being viewed with increasing scepticism by its northern neighbors. While this date still officially remains in effect, project implementers admit that much will depend on how generous the next European funding allocation will be.