Covid-19, EU – Baltic States, Forum, Latvia, Railways, Transport

According to the Transport Ministry's Communications Department, the conference focused on challenges faced by the railroad industry and on assessing the EU and individual member countries' preparedness for such crises and challenges.

Local and international railroads play an important role and ensure mobility, help reduce emissions and develop logistic chains, Linkaits said at the conference.

To this end, the EU member countries must work together to build functioning rail corridors for freight and passenger transport in line with the market needs, said Linkaits, emphasizing the importance of multimodality in attaining the goals of the European Green Deal.

Latvia has joined Rail Freight Corridor 8, said Linkaits. Cooperation and joint projects offer a way to foster European rail space in the Baltic countries before the Rail Baltica railroad infrastructure is in place, he explained.

In the near future, Rail Baltica will play an important role in not only ensuring interconnectivity, but also environment-friendly transport and quality passenger transportation. Thanks to Rail Baltica, the Baltic countries will be fully integrated in the EU rail network, said Linkaits.