Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Railways, Transport

According to Kallas, the main problem involves transfers from one rail width to another.

“The preparedness to deal with it is the lowest and the financing has also not been decided,” he said at the press conference that took place in Tallinn on Monday.

Kallas said postponement of decisions involving the problematic part of Rail Baltica concern the transfer from Lithuania to Poland. He emphasized that Estonia has fulfilled its obligations for implementing the project.

“In principle, the financing of such routes is a matter of Member States’ policies; the European Union can help in financing some key areas and it will certainly be my objective to try to help improve the so-called bottlenecks in the transport networks,” explained the transport commissioner, adding that besides Rail Baltica, similar problems involve rail links between Spain and France and between Germany and the Czech Republic.

“As for me – I will do my best to advance the Rail Baltica project,” assured Kallas. He added that the financing of the project will probably also need help from the private sector.