VILNIUS - Vilnius leaders laid down a tremendous economic challenge for the government last week when they launched a campaign to ensure that Rail Baltica makes a stop in the capital despite having been left out of previous plans.
Vilnius Mayor Arturas Zuokas asked the government on Jan. 11 to analyze the possibility of redirecting the European standard shuttle rail line, which will largely be financed with EU funds, via the capital. The present Rail Baltica project, which envisages linking capitals from Helsinki to Berlin, does not include Vilnius and instead runs through Kaunas. Geographically, a rail from Riga to Kaunas and on to Warsaw would be the shortest route.
"The railway will connect capitals. So Vilnius - although remote from the most direct route - should not be bypassed," said Zuokas. He suggested either adding an additional connection Kaunas-Vilnius to the line running via Kaunas or discussing an alternative option of the Rail Baltica, which would run via Alytus, Vilnius and Panevezys instead.
The Vilnius municipality is arguing that this is a decision of strategic significance, one that will strongly influence further economic developments in the country. The government, he stressed, should heed the call.
"Rail Baltica is much anticipated in Vilnius, and it would highly improve our contacts with Europe," Zuokas said.
Kaunas civic leaders agreed that a European-standard shuttle connecting their city with the capital is essential for further cooperation between the country's two largest cities. Saulius Lukosaitis, head of the city's strategic planning department, said he would try to convince government officials of this.
"A modern railway line connecting Kaunas with the capital is one of the most important objects in Kaunas' strategic plan. We are interested in closer relations with Vilnius," said Lukosaitis. "The capital's proximity is always a positive element for people and business mobility. We would love to get on a train and go watch a play in Vilnius in just half an hour and afterward return to our residential areas in Kaunas."
Both Vilnius and Kaunas expressed concerns about government officials' ignorance, since the latter did not bother discussing aspects of rail construction with municipality officials or society as a whole.
The Transport Ministry said that the Vilnius-Kaunas initiative was grossly delinquent, since all details had already been agreed upon with European institutions and other members of Rail Baltica.
"They woke up too late. Everything is settled with Europe, and it is not realistic to alter anything," said Ceslovas Siksnelis, director of the transit and railway department at the ministry.
Construction of the 267-kilometer segment of the Rail Baltica track in Lithuania, which is calculated to cost more than 800 million euros, is expected to start in 2008, and so both municipalities believe that some modifications can be pushed through. But the Transport Ministry would promise no more than modernization of the existing railway.
"No one intends to leave the capital aside, but at this stage it is still unclear what would be better for [twin-city relations]. Kaunas was chosen as the geographically straightest point from Poland. It's too early today to turn about the line from Kaunas to Vilnius, our first idea is to modernize the present Kaunas-Vilnius railway," said Albertas Aruna, head of the transport investment directorate at the Transport Ministry.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has recently said it would appoint a coordinator for Rail Baltica, a project that all three Baltic states are pinning many of their transit hopes on. Transport Minister Zigmantas Balcytis told the Verslo Zinios business daily last week that the Brussels-appointed coordinator would settle interstate problems related with the project and coordinate positions of interested parties, including the Baltics and Poland.
Though construction is slated for 2008, work might not be launched until later since participating countries could run into difficulties when buying land needed for laying out the rails and provided infrastructure. The Kaunas-Riga link will be completed by 2014, and the Riga-Tallinn link - by 2016, according to the initial schedule for construction.
The project will be largely financed from the EU Cohesion Fund. Lithuania's contribution will make up some 10 percent of total value.
