Estonia, Financial Services, Funds, Railways, Transport

"In the state budget strategy we requested 23 mln euros annually for cover. In spite of this money being meant for us by the Railways Act, the government decided to only allocate 9 mln euros in the government budget strategy. Therefore we can only make urgent investments this year and other works have been halted," chairman of the supervisory board of AS Eesti Raudtee Priit Rohumaa tol on Thursday.

According to Rohumaa the supervisory board hopes that the government will soon return to the discussion regarding long-term railway funding plan. "Without state funding the railway can't cover even current expenses which jeopardizes safety as well as railway traffic speeds," he said.

The railway company has previously said that in order to carry out necessary maintenance and renovation works and to preserve the quality of domestic railway it is necessary to allocate at least 14 mln euros a year in 2018-2021. For this sum it would be possible to continue offering reliable railway service from the capital city Tallinn in the direction of Paldiski, Narva, Koidula and Valga, and assure that the traffic speed of passenger trains will remain at 120 kilometers per hour.

In an analysis carried out in 2014, the consultation company Ernst & Young said that the minimum annual funding of the railway should be 31.7 mln euros.

The revenue of Eesti Raudtee has declined in the past few years also as a result of a decline in freight carriage volumes.