The most expensive option will require laying European-gauge tracks, but these will allow a minimum speed of 160 kph.
120 kph or 160 kph?
The EUR one billion option takes as its starting point the existing rail network, which has a broader gauge than the European standard. This option allows speeds of up to 120 kph – but involves switching coaches and bogies (chassis) in Lithuania, which can take up to 24 hours.
The EUR 2.4 billion option provides a minimum speed of 160 kph, but necessitates laying new, standard European-gauge track along the whole route.
Greater cohesion
These are some of the main conclusions of a feasibility study conducted by COWI for the European Commission. The modernisation of the Baltic railway is one of the 30 projects which the EU is prioritising for infrastructural reform within the 27 member states.
Project manager Karsten Sten Pedersen reports on the study: "The overall remit of the project is to improve the North-South railway corridor, thereby promoting development in the region, reinforcing links between the Baltic states and the rest of the EU, and relieving the increasingly congested roads."
More East-West than North-South
However, Pedersen identifies higher levels of activity in the railway sector on East-West axis across the Baltic states and Russia than on a North-South axis.
"This being so, this particular project reflects long-term development aims rather than a short-term need. In the report we have just published we have therefore highlighted the cheapest and least extensive solution for the short term, because, given current circumstances, it combines the greatest social and economic benefits with the lowest risk," says the project manager, adding: