The service will operate on the 650km 1520mm-gauge route linking Tallinn, Riga in Latvia, and the Lithuanian-Polish border at Šestokai, where containers will be transhipped to standard-gauge trains. The service will be managed jointly by Estonia’s state-owned freight operator EVR Cargo, Latvia’s LDZ Logistika, and Lithuanian Railways (LG).
The agreement was signed by Mr Raul Toomsalu, chairman of EVR Cargo, Ms Svetlana Berga, chairwoman of Latvian Railways’ freight subsidiary LDZ Cargo, Mr Eduards Cernavskis, board member of LDZ Logistika, and Mr Egidijus Lazauskas, deputy director general and freight transport director of LG.
The objective is to provide a fast and reliable rail freight connection between western and northern Europe using a single route to reach all three Baltic states, with a ferry connection to Finland.
“This is another sign that there is a demand for a north-south route, which in turn shows that we need Rail Baltica,” says Mr Erik Laidvee, chairman of infrastructure manager Estonian Railways.
