Estonia, Financial Services, Legislation, Railways, Transport

"The Estonian government decided to allocate 8 million euros for the construction of the Riisipere-Turba railway section as the first phase of building the Haapsalu railway link. The planned works on the section will be carried out so that later, it will be possible to continue building the railway towards Haapsalu without the need for extensive reconstruction work," Simson said in a letter to the Laane county government.

"In the current phase there are not enough financial means to build the Haapsalu railway's Turba-Haapsalu-Rohukula section. Hopefully it will be possible to make a relevant decision for the allocation of funds in 2019," the minister said.

Laane county governor Neeme Suur on June 13 sent a proposal to the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, which proposed in addition to the construction of the Riisipere-Turba section to also extend the railway link until Rohukula. Suur said that "based on the set rules of the transport development plan, different funding opportunities should be considered."

The railway connection between Tallinn and Haapsalu permanently ended in summer 2004, when Haapsalu Raudtee OU, the owner of the Riisipere-Haapsalu railway, started removing rails from the track. Haapsalu Raudtee still owns the track bed and the company has previously tried to sell it to the government. The company is owned by Aarne Taal and Eve Taal.