The European Commission’s (EC) Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) will provide €182.2m (85%) of the grant, with the remaining 15% being contributed by the governments of the Baltic States.

The announcement follows the approval of funds for Rail Baltica by the CEF Committee on July 17 under the framework of the 2019 CEF Transport Call. The new grants bring the total amount of funds secured by the project to €1.12bn.

The first grant agreement covers €128.2m allocated to the construction of:

  • access to Muuga freight terminal (Phase 1)
  • Riga Central station railway section (Phase 2)
  • Riga Airport railway section (Phase 2)
  • Ülemiste passenger terminal (Phase 2), and
  • part of track construction works on the section between Kaunas, Lithuania, and the Latvian border.

The second grant agreement will provide €86.1m to support land acquisitions for the project, as well as technical design and planning for:

  • energy infrastructure
  • control and command systems, and
  • regional stations and maintenance facilities along the route.

Rail Baltica is an 870km standard-gauge rail project which aims to provide a continuous rail connection between Poland and the three Baltic States of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, integrating the states into the wider European rail network. The project is currently scheduled for completion in 2026.

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