Rail Baltica regional trains planned across Baltics

Rail Baltica regional trains are planned for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The three countries are preparing to purchase up to 20 units. The trains would serve their own sections of the route. This is reported by the railway transport news portal Railway Supply.

The trains are intended for domestic regional use on the Rail Baltica line. They would serve local stations rather than operate as international high-speed services.

Rail Baltica regional trains and procurement scope

The Baltic states train procurement was announced in March. Lithuania is expected to order up to eight trains. Estonia is expected to order between five and seven. Latvia is expected to order up to five. In Latvia’s case, route construction has been held back mainly by funding problems.

The Estonian and Latvian government commissions met in Pärnu on Friday. At that session, the tender deadline extension moved the deadline to mid-June. The three-country procurement had previously been scheduled to finish by the start of this month.

Estonia’s planned Tallinn–Pärnu–Ikla line

In Estonia, the planned regional route would run from Tallinn to Häädemeeste. Häädemeeste is near the Latvian border. The line would have more than a dozen stops.

Elron management board member Märt Ehrenpreis said:

“Domestic travel within Estonia, including the international stations in Tallinn and Pärnu, will involve 14 stops altogether. These are intermediate-type trains — they are not high-speed trains, but nor are they like the trains we are used to today, with a maximum speed of 200 kilometers per hour. They will have around 200 seats and are designed for different categories of passenger, including families and people traveling with pets. There will also be a catering zone, which is significant, and certainly more toilet facilities than we have today. At present we have just one [per train], and that is definitely too few,”

Ehrenpreis added that the final cost of the trains will be established through the procurement process. The first regional trains are expected to reach Estonia in the second half of 2029. They are expected to enter service at the end of 2030.

Regional and Agriculture Minister Hendrik Johannes Terras said the current plan concerns the Tallinn–Pärnu–Ikla line. He said Estonia’s regional service could eventually continue across the border to Riga.

Terras told “Aktuaalne kaamera”:

“What is certainly important regarding the regional trains is that at the moment the Tallinn–Pärnu–Ikla line is planned, but we would like people in the future to be able to travel to Riga using this Estonian regional train as well. We will certainly be discussing this among ourselves,”

Juris Krastinš is deputy director of the Rail Baltica project department at Latvia’s Ministry of Transport. He said Latvia cannot delay train procurement further. He said the process must continue in parallel with Rail Baltica infrastructure construction. The final number of trains will be decided according to future needs.

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