Warsaw-Tallinn train service by 2030 is aspiration, not guarantee -Rail Baltica rep - BNS INTERVIEW

VILNIUS - Rail Baltica, a billion-euro European standard gauge railway linking Poland and the three Baltic states, should be completed by 2030, but such a deadline will be a major challenge, the project's head in Lithuania says.

"It's a very, very big challenge. We can all calculate how many years are left for the design, how long it takes for the construction and all the other things, including electrification, traffic management. If I were to say that I really guarantee that this will happen, it would be very frivolous," Arenijus Jackus, chair of the supervisory board of RB Rail, the pan-Baltic venture coordinating the Rail Baltica project, said in an interview with BNS, adding that there is a "very strong" ambition to make sure that people are able to travel from Warsaw to Tallinn by 2030.

In February, he had warned the Lithuanian parliament's Committee on Economic Affairs of the risks that could delay the construction of the railway in Lithuania until 2032-2033.

As early as 2028, the European railway is expected to connect Lithuania and Poland using the line built a decade ago and stretching from Kaunas to the Polish border after a traffic management system that will allow trains to reach speeds of 120 kilometers per hour is put in place.

"When the infrastructure allows it, it will be much more convenient, and Kaunas residents will be able to go directly to Warsaw. (...) We plan that to happen in 2028, and that interconnection with Warsaw will definitely be better through the first line of Rail Baltica," Jackus said.

Meanwhile, the second European line on this section should be completed by 2030.

The head of the Rail Baltica project in Lithuania says that there may be a "technical pause" between EU funding periods, so various sources of funds for the project are being considered, including borrowing from international financial institutions.

According to Jackus, Lithuania should prepare a strategy for the acquisition of rolling stock adapted to European railways by the end of this year.

Rail Baltica will connect Tallinn, Parnu, Riga, Panevezys, Kaunas, Vilnius and Warsaw, and will have a 392-km stretch in Lithuania.