Vingris resigns as board chairman of EDzL

RIGA - Kaspars Vingris has resigned as the board chairman of Eiropas Dzelzcela Linijas (LDzL), a shareholder in the Baltic joint venture Rail Baltica, which was set up for the implementation of the Rail Baltica railroad project, EDzL representatives informed LETA.

Vingris has tendered resignation to the Transport Ministry, the shareholder of EDzL, citing personal reasons for standing down.

Vingris has been in charge of the company for almost five years, and has been with the Rail Baltica project for a total of ten years.

Vingris has been involved in the implementation of the Rail Baltica project since 2014, when he joined the Transport Ministry's Railway Department and was the manager of the Rail Baltica national study project. In 2016, he continued work as the head of the EDzL Project Implementation Department, and in 2019 he was confirmed as the Chairman of the EDzL Management Board.

As LETA reported, Rail Baltica is a double track, European standard 1,435 mm gauge electrified railway for passenger and freight transport to be built from Tallinn to the Lithuanian-Polish border. The overall length of the railway will be 870 kilometers. 

Initially, the cost of Rail Baltica in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia was estimated at around EUR 5.8 billion, but the parties involved in the project have repeatedly admitted that the cost estimate has significantly increased. Some of the project's costs will be financed with EU funding. The Rail Baltica line will be opened in phases from 2028 to 20230. 

In its annual report for 2023, the State Security Service emphasized that despite current difficulties, further delays in the construction of Rail Baltica infrastructure are impermissible and the project requires targeted risk management.

It was also reported that EDzL's turnover last year, according to preliminary data, was EUR 6.398 million, an increase of 64 percent compared to 2022, while the company's loss increased to EUR 195,783.

EDzL is a wholly state-owned company with a share capital of EUR 4.445 million.