Tartu-Riga train line not funded in state budget strategy

While money has been allocated to launch the Tartu-Riga train line in 2024, it has not been included in the longer-term 2025-2027 state budget strategy, said Sander Salmu, deputy secretary general for transport at the Ministry for Climate.
The latest launch date is October 1, but ideally, it would be sooner, the official told Vikerraadio's "Uudis+" program on Friday.
At the end of last year, the Latvians claimed their offer for the route was cheaper than Elrons, but not considered. Salmu said the Latvian offer did not turn out to be cheaper.
"It was cheaper in numerical terms, but if we look at the whole thing, in terms of departure times, whether they would be suitable for the line, whether the quality of the trains that they could offer would meet the expectations of passengers, I would say no. To put it simply, to pay a little less for an empty train, rather than having a good quality service for which we are prepared to pay a little more," said Salmu.
Under the Latvian's offer, the journey from Tartu to Riga would start at 4 a.m. and run daily as an extension of the Tartu-Valga train. "We have a limited fleet of rolling stock, but if we get new trains, it will be possible to run the Tartu-Riga connection at the best times," said Salmu.
The Estonian state budget has already allocated €300,000 for the route this year, during the Tartu2024 capital of culture year.

"There is money today to run the train line, but there is no money in the national budget for the next budget strategy, it will be the national budget in the autumn now. One of the issues that will be on the table in the negotiations on the autumn budget," said Salmu.
He said one option is to create a temporary service between October and December, but it would have to be decided by politicians.
The train line would reportedly need a €100,000 monthly subsidy. Coach company Lux Express doubts, based on its own experience, that it would pay off. The company has a route between St Peterburg and Riga, that travels via Tartu.
"Today, the estimated number of passengers on a single departure that Elron has forecast is 40. I do not really want to start to contrast bus and train transport, but perhaps I can just point out as one aspect that, for this bus company too, most of their departures are an extension of the St Petersburg line. And now the question arises, whether there was a continuation of the Tartu-Riga bus ticket for each route," Salmu said.
"The truth is that with any route that is launched, people need to get used to having that option and ultimately we are still competing with the car, s car users are our main target audience to influence. To get people out of their cars and onto public transport: buses and trains. The bus has its own option, the bus has flexibility. The train we are talking about today goes to the center of Riga, but with the bus you have the flexibility to go to the airport. So I believe that once people get into the habit of using public transport, there will be more users for both types of transport," said Salmu.
Polling shows the public prefers trains to buses for long-distance travel. "This will create an opportunity to avoid the use of cars and will also enable tourist groups to move between Tartu and Riga," the official said.
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Editor: Mari Peegel, Arp Müller, Helen Wright
Source: Vikerradio