At the moment, the express train from Tallinn to Tartu takes around two hours and 20 minutes. The journey could be made in under two hours. However, Eesti Raudtee is currently completing construction work on several sections of its network and so, for safety reasons, trains there will have to travel slightly slower.

"In order for the trains to be able to run at the new quality and new speed, practically all the elements of the railway have to be adapted. The geometry will be adjusted in quite a number of sections to bring them up to the speed of 160 kilometers per hour," said Eesti Raudtee's technical director Arvo Smiltinš.

To achieve this, Eesti Raudtee still needs to acquire some land, and then clear it before improving the crossings and bridges. The electrification of the railway will also require a lot of work, as will connecting line to the network and a new control system. If lines are straightened, diesel trains will be able to run at 160 kilometers per hour, however, electric trains are still essential to increase the overall speed of the journey.

"Electric trains are much more dynamic, they accelerate better. The dynamics of electric trains are what makes it possible in real terms, with stops, to reach this speed of 160 kilometers per hour," said Smiltinš.

The first of Elron's new trains is currently still undergoing testing in Czechia, said Elron management board member Märt Ehrenpreis.

"The first two trains, two three-car models, will arrive in Estonia in April or May this year. The other four trains, the rest, will arrive over the course of the year. By the end of the year, we will definitely have six Škoda trains on the Estonian infrastructure," Ehrenpreis said.

At that time, it will also be necessary to carry out test runs in Estonia and check the compatibility of the trains with the Estonian infrastructure. The new trains will start carrying passengers early next year.

"Initially in combination, the Škoda trains and the current trains will alternate. In the first quarter, we will use the same capacity as this year. However, in the second quarter we will also add in additional trips and increase the capacity," Ehrenpreis added.

The new trains will have more spaces for bicycle storage and wider seats for first-class passengers. They will also provide increased comfort for people to work and be more spacious overall, Ehrenpreis said. There will also be vending machines on board to dispense food and drinks.

A faster and more comfortable train journey will depend mainly on when Eesti Raudtee completes the construction work. The target is the end of this year, Smiltinš said.

"Certainly the schedule is very tight. We sometimes don't have any spare time or buffers here. We are working at this pace. We will not give up on meeting the end-of-year target, but there are risks involved," he added.

Ideally, train journeys between Tallinn and Tartu could then take an hour and a half, give or take a few minutes. However, cutting the last 15 minutes is the part that requires the most effort, Smiltinš admitted. Therefore, he stopped short of promising such a fast service would be up and running by the end of the year. Instead, in the second half of December, an express train could run from Tallinn to Tartu in one hour and 50 minutes.

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