Elron board member Märt Ehrenpreis said the first test run of the Stadler Flirt train will take place in mid-August.

"A decade ago, all Elron trains came to Estonia via Latvia, but a lot may have changed in that time. We are therefore planning to assess the capacity of the trains to fit between structures and equipment in the railway corridor and to test the compatibility of the Latvian railway with the new radios. Latvia's railways are currently undergoing major reconstruction work on the radio network, and the Riga-Valka section will be upgraded to the new radio communications system as part of the work, so we must be ready for the introduction of the new system," Ehrenpreis told ERR.

This week representatives of Elron, Latvian Railway Technical Inspection and the European Railway Board agreed there is no need to re-inspect rolling stock certified in Estonia in Latvia.

"Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania's infrastructure is very similar. If compliance has already been verified on the Estonian infrastructure, there is no need to re-verify compliance to operate on the Latvian infrastructure.  This means that the workload for the certification of rolling stock is reduced," he said.

There is hope the line will be operational by October.

"A lot depends on the extent to which Latvian and European railway authorities and inspectorates require retests. There is a bit of uncertainty here," Ehrenpreis explained.

It is hoped the Tartu-Riga line will continue to operate in the future, even after Rail Baltic – which will connect Tallinn, Riga and Kaunas by 2030 – is built.

"This is an important transport project for the Baltic States as a whole. Our hope is that our efforts will be continued in the future with the support of the state, so that this [Riga-Tartu line] is not a one-off project," said Ehrenpreis.

Ehrenpreis said ticket prices will be announced soon.

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