Certification of Estonia's Elron trains for operation on Latvian railways starts

TALLINN – Estonia's state-owned passenger train operator Elron has signed a contract with Latvian company SIA Baltijas Sertifikacijas Centrs, which will start preparations for the certification of Stadler Flirt passenger trains for operation on Latvian railways.

The Tartu-Valga-Riga passenger train connection is planned to be launched in October this year in cooperation with the Ministry of Climate, the Ministry of Regional Affairs and Agriculture, the city of Tartu and cooperation partners in Latvia, Elron said.

"The first stage of the launch of the passenger train connection on the Tartu-Valga-Riga line is the certification of the Stadler Flirt diesel trains used in Estonia by Elron for running on Latvian railways. This is a prerequisite for using Elron rolling stock in Latvia," Elron board member Mart Ehrenpreis said.

"Certification is carried out through the European Union Agency for Railways and will be completed by the middle of September at the latest. In parallel, we will also apply to Latvian Railways for transport volumes and travel times to operate the Valga-Riga line," he added.

According to Ehrenpreis, the launch of the train line is in the preparatory stage, which involves communication with the Latvian authorities and passenger train operator in order to reach an agreement on the conditions and possibilities of operating on the line.

"For Elron, cooperation with the Latvian railway sector and companies is very important. The Tartu-Riga line can only start functioning with the cooperation of the two countries and train companies," the Elron board member said. "When launching an international train line, issues ranging from the support team and technical support to the ticketing system need to be resolved."