Rail Baltica

railway network across the Baltic nations

Key facts

Locale: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Finland (proposed)
Website: www .railbaltica .org
Type: Public high-speed railway
System: Rail Baltica (European gauge railway)
Services: Tallinn–Pärnu–Riga–Riga International Airport–Panevėžys–Kaunas/Vilnius–Białystok–Warsaw
Planned opening: Phase 1 (single-track): 2030 Full (double-track): To Be Confirmed</span>"}]]}'>TBC
Line length: 870 km (540 mi)
Number of tracks: Single track (phase 1), Double track (project scope)
Track gauge: 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) standard gauge (primary)
Loading gauge: SE-C
Electrification: 25 kV 50 Hz AC overhead line
Operating speed

Article

Rail Baltica is an under-construction rail infrastructure project that is intended to integrate the Baltic states in the European rail network. The project envisages a continuous rail link for passenger and freight services with stations from Tallinn (Estonia) to Warsaw (Poland), via Pärnu (Estonia), Riga (Latvia) and Kaunas (Lithuania), with two branches extending from the main line towards Riga International Airport and Vilnius (Lithuania). Its total length in the Baltic states is 870 kilometres (540 mi), with 213 kilometres (132 mi) in Estonia, 265 kilometres (165 mi) in Latvia, and 392 kilometres (244 mi) in Lithuania.

Rail Baltica will build the first large-scale mainline standard gauge railway in the region. Rail networks in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania mainly use Russian gauge (1,520 mm). These countries' first railways were built in the second half of the 19th century as part of the Russian Empire rail network. While some railways were built or converted to narrow or standard gauge in the Interwar period between World War I and World War II in the independent or German-occupied Baltic states, these were later converted back to Russian gauge under Soviet occupation rule after 1945.