Cargo, Estonia, Railways, Transport

The state-owned AS Eesti Raudtee (Estonian Railways Co) estimates that without the additional support from the government, they would no longer be able to maintain passenger train traffic at the current level.

Eesti Raudtee projects this year’s cargo transport volume to be 18.5 million tonnes. This means a 24% decline in comparison with last year. Only once was the decline faster than this – after the so-called Bronze Night events, but in 2008 the cargo volumes still remained at above 25 million tones.

Cargo transport accounts for 95% of revenue generated by the railroad and CEO of Estonian Railways Ahti Asmann estimates that 25 million tonnes is the limit where passenger train transport could be kept at reasonable level without support from the state budget.

"I guess now we need to make choices about what kind of railways we want, and if we're willing to pay for it, because the current situation where the freight paid in essence for the whole railway, cannot be sustained," said Asmann. According to him, the tariffs of goods for carriers have already reached a level, where they become uncompetitive, and cargo transport prices have increased a lot already.

24% decrease of freight volumes means around 15 million euros in lost revenue. Thus there are two choices – either to get the money from passengers or increase state subsidies to passenger train traffic.