Benefits
Rail Baltica is a landmark rail infrastructure project that will connect the three Baltic States, Finland, and Poland, bringing the countries closer to each other and closer to Europe. It will remove the logistical bottleneck that currently exists in north-eastern Europe, thus providing the missing link in European transit networks and allowing the Baltic States to finally become fully integrated with other European countries.
First and foremost, Rail Baltica will enable people in the Baltic Sea region to connect to each other. Rail Baltica also adheres to the highest environmental standards, helping make transportation in the region greener and healthier. At the same time, the inherent safety of rail travel combined with the project’s uncompromising safety and security targets are projected to help save more than 400 lives in the first 30 years of operation.
Businesses will be able to use Rail Baltica’s freight transport and multi-modal logistics opportunities to move goods throughout Europe, while services industries will be able to quickly and easily work across the entire region to take advantage of new growth opportunities. On top of that, the project will generate 36 000 new job opportunities in its construction phases. With 85% of the funding for the project coming from EU funds, the region is poised to see huge economic benefits for a relatively small investment.
The Project of the Century
For the People
For the People
Liisa takes her son to the day-care in the morning and catches the train from Pärnu to Rīga at 08:35. During the train ride, she replies to emails and adds quick notes to a presentation that she is preparing. At 10:00 she has a meeting in Rīga’s Old Town, where she presents her ideas for a collaborative film project about archaeological findings in the Baltics. After the meeting, she catches the 14:45 train back to Pärnu and picks up her son from day-care at 16:00.
For the Economy
For the Economy
Väino is a truck driver with a leading regional logistics firm, and he’s used to working abroad and driving long hours and long distances. Now that his company has started taking advantage of multi-modal transport opportunities provided by Rail Baltica, he only needs to drive goods to a train leaving from the freight terminal in Pärnu, meaning he has fewer overnight trips and is able to spend more time with his family in Paide. Meanwhile, thanks to a reduction of 8% in its transit costs, his company is now ready to expand its team—giving Väino a chance to move into a team leadership position.
For the Businesses
For the Businesses
Baiba owns and manages a medium-sized manufacturer and wholesaler of musical instruments based in Rīga. She recently opened a new location in Tallinn, and she uses Rail Baltica’s cargo service to send weekly shipments from her warehouse in Latvia so that she can be sure that her new location is always fully stocked. The expansion was made possible by her ability to more easily import lower-cost parts from Poland, giving her business the opportunity to form a production supply chain that spans the entire region.
For the Earth
For the Earth
Lukas is a young professional in Vilnius, but he grew up in a countryside home on the outskirts of Kaunas, where he used to sit by a pond and listen to the frogs sing every evening. The new Rail Baltica line make it faster and easier for him to get back home to visit his parents on the weekends without needing to invest in a car—for only 11€, he can get between the two cities in just 36 minutes. Meanwhile, a nearby “eco-duct” keeps the frogs’ migratory routes fully intact, and the reduced noise pollution that comes from building a railway instead of a new highway helps to ensure that his own children will one day be able to sit by the pond alongside him and listen to the sounds of untouched nature.