Estonia, Legislation, Railways, Transport

Elron's sales and development manager Norbert Kaareste said that Estonia is one of the first states in the world to replace the whole diesel passenger train fleet in one night.

"There is a representative of the train producer in all diesel trains in the first days of the year, to observe the work reliability of the trains," said Kaareste.

AS Eesti Liinirongid (Elron) is a state-owned company that operates nationwide passenger transport with the new Stadler FLIRT electric and diesel trains. Elron's predecessor Elektriraudtee used to service only commuter electric trains in the vicinity of Tallinn and started using the new electric trains last summer.

The privately owned Edelaraudtee, that for 17 years operated the intercity diesel trains, serviced nearly 33 million passengers over the years. Its old diesel trains will for now stay in depot but in the future they are likely to be sent into scrap metal.

"Unfortunately we don't know yet what will happen with these trains and we have looked for possibilities in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, but good work cannot be found for these trains somewhere at the moment," said Edelaraudtee’s council member Tiit Pruuli.

Õhtuleht writes that as of January 2, 126 people will be made redundant from Edelaraudtee. Out of them, 27 locomotive drivers have jobs waiting for them in Elron and around 21 customer service staff are also likely to get jobs there. Around 15 people will be employed by GO Rail.