EU – Baltic States, Financial Services, Legislation, Lithuania, Railways, Transport

The European-standard gauge railway project Rail Baltica will connect the Baltic States to Finland and Poland. It will be the first project of this size implemented jointly by the three Baltic States.

The agreement was signed by the representatives of the three Baltic State companies – Rail Baltica Statyba (Lithuania), Eiropas Dzelzcela Linijas (Latvia) and Rail Baltica Estonia (Estonia). The Ministers of Transport of three Baltic States were also attending the ceremony.

“This agreement represents a historic moment for the Baltic countries as it firmed the official beginning of the project and confirmed that we are taking real steps towards being fully integrated with the European Union. In addition, we are pleased that the provision for Vilnius connection was included in the contract by common agreement. For Lithuania, it was an important condition in order to develop further the project. Vilnius connection will increase not only the Lithuanian value of the project, but the whole project as well” – said Rimantas Sinkevičius, Minister of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania.

According to the Minister, the fact that the project may be eligible for up to 85 percent EU co-financing is essential. “We believe that Rail Baltica project will be within the priorities of the decision-making process of fund allocations”, said Rimantas Sinkevičius. It is expected that 85 percent of the project value will be funded by the European Union. Among the priorities of the established joint venture is the preparation of a collective three Baltic States’ application for the CEF funding. The deadline to submit this application is February 26, 2015.

“This agreement means that starting from now we talk about Rail Baltica in present and not future tense. This is an exceptional scale international project, therefore, together with our partners we will seek to ensure that the benefits and new opportunities provided by Rail Baltica are felt by all Baltic citizens and businesses”, said the director of Rail Baltica Statyba Dainius Budrys.

Each Baltic State will own one-third of “RB Rail” company’s shares. The most important decisions will be approved by the Supervisory Board where each shareholder will nominate two members. The joint venture will coordinate how the project is implemented in every country, coordinate the progress of the project and provide administrative services. In joint venture, Lithuanian will be represented by Lithuanian Railways subsidiary Rail Baltica Statyba, a company established at the beginning of the year.

European Commission considers the project Rail Baltica as one of the priorities. As it was announced, for the period of 2014-2020, LTL 41 billion (EUR 11.9 billion) will be appointed for the modernization of EU transport links. Currently, this is the largest maintenance devoted to the transport infrastructure. Rail Baltica is part of one of the nine major transport corridors that will receive a large amount of funding. According to the study,conducted by the largest international engineering solutions company AECOM, the indicative worth of Rail Baltica is EUR 3.5 billion (LTL 12 billion) and the duration of the works is 10 years.

The project Rail Baltica, starting from the Lithuanian-Polish border and going to Tallinn is scheduled to be finished by 2024.