Estonia is living in a “dream world” when it comes to the Rail Baltica timetable, and completing the railway project across all three Baltic states by 2030 is mathematically impossible, Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs said in an interview with TV3’s 900 Seconds.
Kulbergs said that during the European Council meeting in Brussels, he met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, where they also discussed the future development of the Rail Baltica project. According to the Prime Minister, they agreed that European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism Apostolos Tzitzikostas will visit the Baltic states to discuss how the region’s leaders intend to present the project’s future vision.
“I am ready to take on the role of a Baltic leader,” Kulbergs said, stressing that the project requires closer political coordination between Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Commenting on Estonia’s position, the Prime Minister said Estonian politicians are “living a little in dreamland.” In his view, political leaders in Estonia have been given incomplete information about the project, rather than relying on technical experts.
“I can immediately point out three things. Quite simply, it is mathematically impossible for all three countries to complete Rail Baltica by 2030,” Kulbergs said.
He argued that discussions surrounding Rail Baltica have focused too heavily on publicly competing over deadlines instead of realistically assessing what can actually be delivered.
“There is no need to compete, because it is a pointless competition that only drives up costs. None of the countries has the capacity,” the Prime Minister said.
Kulbergs added that the Baltic states should look for ways to revise the project and reduce its overall cost. According to him, he has been “thinking outside the box” by considering additional solutions that were not part of the original project model. One possible option, he suggested, would be reducing the planned operating speed of the trains, which, in his view, could generate significant cost savings.
Read also: NATO strengthens Baltic defence as German-Dutch Corps assumes command responsibility
The post Rail Baltica by 2030? Latvian Prime Minister says it’s impossible appeared first on Baltic News Network.
