Rail Baltica delayed again as Baltic states seek €10 billion from the EU

The Baltic states have abandoned the 2030 deadline for Rail Baltica and given themselves until 2034 to open the main line, angering leaders in the Estonian city of Pärnu who say years of planning and investment were based on government promises.

Under a joint statement approved by the prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on 22 September, the railway is now expected to become operational during the European Union’s next budget period, which runs from 2028 to 2034.

The statement gives no precise opening date, replacing the firm 2030 target with a seven-year window. The three countries nevertheless promised to continue construction as close to the existing timetable as possible.

As recently as April, the Baltic prime ministers reaffirmed the 2030 deadline at a meeting in Tallinn. At the time, Estonian prime minister Kristen Michal said that Estonia intended to complete its section of the line by then and use as much EU funding as possible.

The governments blamed the revised timetable on strained public finances. They said the changed security environment, its economic impact and sharply rising defence spending had placed severe pressure on the budgets of countries along the EU’s eastern border.

Michal began publicly making the case for a delay last week. He said Estonia was technically capable of completing its section by 2030, but doing so would require more money from the Estonian taxpayers. Slowing work on some sections would allow the country to draw more heavily on EU support from the next budget period.

“If we build faster, we will spend more of our own money. If we build a little more slowly, we can use significantly more European funding,” Michal told a government press conference on 17 September.

The Baltic states seek another €10 billion

The three governments will jointly demand at least a further €10 billion for Rail Baltica during negotiations over the EU’s next budget, primarily through the Connecting Europe Facility. They also want the EU co-financing rate of up to 85 per cent to be retained.

The prime ministers called for the cost of the project’s first stage to be reduced significantly. Technical solutions will be reviewed, although the countries promised to preserve the railway’s essential requirements and ensure that sections built in different countries can operate together.

They also plan to coordinate the use of construction capacity, materials and labour to limit price rises and reduce the risk of the construction market overheating.

The prime ministers said Rail Baltica would deliver its full benefits only when the national sections formed a continuous connection with the rest of Europe. Isolated stretches of railway would not be sufficient. Construction timetables, the order of investment and each country’s financial commitments must still be agreed with the European Commission and Poland.

The Estonian Government Office said that construction already under way in Estonia would continue as planned.

Infrastructure minister Kuldar Leis told the Estonian Public Broadcasting that work on the Tallinn–Pärnu section was proceeding at full speed. Construction could later begin on sections south of Pärnu and on the railway from Ülemiste terminal towards Tallinn’s port.

Plans to open a domestic passenger service before the entire international route is completed also remain in place, he said.

“These decisions hurt deeply”

The prospect of another delay has provoked anger in Pärnu, an Estonian resort town and regional transport hub on the main north–south corridor between Tallinn and Riga. The town had been promised a high-speed rail connection to the Estonian capital by December 2025.

Siim Suursild, the mayor of Pärnu, told Estonian news website Delfi he was deeply disappointed by the decision. He said he had been involved in the long-running debate over the railway and Pärnu Airport at county and municipal level for a quarter of a century.

Suursild said local authorities had supported state investment in Pärnu Airport after being promised that a fast rail connection between Tallinn and Pärnu would be operating by the end of 2025.

“All these decisions have been interconnected,” he said. Investment in a parallel railway from Lelle to Pärnu had been ruled out because local leaders had repeatedly been told that Rail Baltica was coming.

Suursild said the economy minister had yet to provide a clear answer on when passenger trains would return to Pärnu. “Seen from here in Pärnu, these decisions hurt us very, very deeply,” he said.

The town had planned a large multimodal transport hub linking its port, airport and railway, but Suursild said the project would now fail to materialise. Plans to connect the new railway station with the town centre had also been left without a clear timetable.

He added that people had invested in property in Pärnu on the assumption that the high-speed railway would allow them to live in the resort town while commuting to Tallinn for work.

“Pärnu has been promised this connection for years”

Kristel Voltenberg, a former mayor of Pärnu, sent an open letter to the government after the new timetable was announced.

“I am writing from a town for which Rail Baltica is neither an abstract European infrastructure project nor merely a figure in the state budget,” she wrote.

“For Pärnu, it represents a long-awaited opportunity to gain a fast, modern connection with Tallinn, as well as with Latvia, Lithuania and the rest of Europe. Pärnu has been promised this connection for years.”

Voltenberg noted that the railway was originally expected to be completed in 2026 before the deadline was moved to 2030. That firm target had now been replaced by a considerably less certain promise to finish the line at some point between 2028 and 2034.

“For Pärnu, this is not merely a technical change to the timetable,” she said. “It directly affects our town’s development and public trust in the Estonian state.”

The town, its residents and businesses had made plans based on the government’s commitments, Voltenberg said. Infrastructure, a passenger terminal and surrounding urban development had all been designed around the arrival of Rail Baltica.

A hotel and conference centre is due to be completed in Pärnu in 2027, while at least three further hotel developments are being planned on the assumption that the town’s transport connections will improve.

“These decisions are not made in a vacuum – they reflect confidence in the state’s long-term development plans,” Voltenberg said.

She acknowledged that extending the construction timetable could allow Estonia to use more EU funding and reduce the pressure on its national budget. However, she warned that the cost of a four-year delay had not been calculated and that EU support for Rail Baltica in the next budget period had not yet been secured.

“We do not know how much four additional years will cost in terms of rising construction prices, lost economic benefits and delayed investment,” she said.

Voltenberg argued that Estonia should not slow its own construction programme simply because Latvia and Lithuania were further behind.

“If the Tallinn–Pärnu section can be brought into service sooner, this must be done as quickly as possible,” she said.

“Pärnu needs a fast connection with Tallinn not merely for convenience. We need it for business, labour mobility, education, tourism and the development of the entire region.”