Estonia's Rail Baltic terminals will initially be built as empty boxes
The Tallinn and Pärnu terminals of Rail Baltic will be completed in 2027, but initially without fixtures, i.e. as a box. The terminals will be outfitted at a later date, presumably in time for the opening of the railway in 2030.
Anvar Salomets, the director of Rail Baltic Estonia, explained that the Tallinn and Pärnu terminals, which will cost €65 million including local stops, will initially be completed as closed boxes only, due to funding constraints.
Rail Baltic can currently only sign contracts for construction projects that will be completed by 2027. Salomets said that it is more probable that the Pärnu terminal could be completed by 2027, but not the Tallinn terminal.
"Ülemiste Terminal, which is bigger, requires more time. If I see when and how we are laying the foundations there right now, as well as when the vertical construction will begin, the timetable to have all the lights and whistles, so to speak, in place by 2027 is ultra-ambitious," Salomets said.
When and how the terminal boxes will be finally ready depends on the new funding period, but Salomets estimates that they will be operational by 2030, after the sources of funding become clear.
The construction of the primary Rail Baltica route will begin in 2024. In Estonia, so far only a few nodes have been constructed as part of the rail system connecting the three Baltic states to Poland.
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Editor: Huko Aaspõllu, Kristina Kersa
