The Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs, Kadri Simson, sent a proposal to Rail Baltic Estonia to take into account a dual gauge solution for planning the overlapping corridor of Rail Baltic and the Tallinn southern bypass railway, allowing trains to run on different track gauges.
Rail Baltica needs to be completed by 2026, thus the immediate introduction of the bypass railway to the works would hinder Rail Baltic’s progress, spokespeople for the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications said.
The technical work map of Harju County for 2030+, two alternatives for the Tallinn rail ring were identified both of which are currently still on the table. “The explanatory notes of county’s plan state that the exact location of the rail bypass is to be identified with a more precise type of planning. Therefore, for the ring solution, a more detailed plan is needed,” the minister said.
Tallinn rail bypass was estimated at EUR 112 million.
Currently, there is no certainty on the railway alternatives bypassing Tallin in the south, thus travelling parallel with Rail Baltica, and it is not good practice for the developer to have the solution set in stone before the detailed planning process is even completed. The construction of the railway ring which would be partially parallel to Rail Baltica is one of the possibilities.
“Rail Baltica related studies show that the construction of such alternative is reasonable and will solve real problems. The Tallinn rail ring and Rail Baltica are developments in different stages as the Rail Baltica already includes designated spatial plans, whereas the rail ring currently has only a general planning solution.
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