Kubilius to captain Rail Baltica project

VILNIUS - An ad hoc commission for the Lithuanian section of the Rail Baltica project will be headed by the prime minister, the government said, reports ELTA. At a sitting on Sept. 28, the government decided to set up a commission for the implementation of the project.
Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius will chair the commission, which consists of the foreign and environment ministers, chancellor of the prime minister, adviser to the prime minister, director general of Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai (Lithuanian Railways) and director of the Lithuanian Road Administration.

Kubilius’ deputy in the commission is the transport minister.
The commission will submit proposals on the action plan for the implementation of the Rail Baltica project related to spatial planning and expropriation of land plots and other issues.
Rail Baltica is the first real railway transport expansion project on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea, which is aimed to regulate the increasing cargo traffic in the north-south direction. The project, which is part of the Trans-European Transport Network, is expected to improve communications between the Baltic region and other European member states.
The European railway is expected to be operational in a section of the Polish-Lithuanian state border - Marijampole-Kaunas - by the end of 2013.

The project is largely financed by the TEN-T Fund and the Cohesion Fund of the European Union; 770 million litas (222.9 million euros) are allocated from Lithuania’s state budget. Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai will also contribute to the project.