Gorail Plans to Establish Modern Train Connection With Russia's FPK
Gorail has announced plans to establish a high-speed train connection for Tallinn-St. Petersburg and Tallinn-Moscow routes in cooperation with a Russian state company.
Gorail executive Alar Pinsel said he is in talks with the Russian state rail company Federalnaya Passazhirskaya Kompaniya to establish a joint enterprise next year, reported Eesti Päevaleht.
"Our aim is to create afast and modern train connection between Estonia and Russia,“ Pinsel said. "We are working really hard to that aim right now and we have the honor of being a long-time partner with Russian state railroad FPK."
Talks will continue at the beginning of the new year.
An incentive for the Russian company is the possibility of European Union loans, which would be much cheaper than the high interest rates of Russian banks.
Gorail reopened the Tallinn-St. Petersburg route last May, after discontinuing operation in 2008. Once a staple of Tallinn transport, the line had been suspended for most of the last decade, but made a brief comeback four years ago.
The current train ride from Tallinn to Russia is something of an exhibition on the history of rail transport, reported uudised.err.ee, while the Helsinki-St. Petersburg route has a modern connection with Allegro.
