Two accidents have been linked to signal malfunctions caused by lubrication issues, which prompted the speed limits to be put in place.

On November 9 last year, a driver in Kabala, Lääne-Viru County, drove a car into a train, resulting in a minor collision.

A similar incident occurred in March 2022 at the Ropka crossing in Tartu, when a passenger train collided with a truck, causing the train's first carriage to derail. Eight people received minor injuries that time.

While the speed restrictions were in place, the maximum allowed speed was 60 kilometers per hour.

Now, trains are allowed to travel at twice that speed meaning travel times for Tallinn-Narva trains will be up to 25 minutes shorter, depending on the departure, while the Tallinn-Tartu travel time will be up to 15 minutes shorter.

Following the Kabala incident it was found that contact between the train wheels and the tracks had been temporarily lost, as noted likely due to lubrication issues, causing the signal to momentarily switch off.

Tarvi Viisalu, safety manager at Estonian Railways (Eesti Raudtee) said: "From the outset, we suspected issues with greasing the train wheels and the rail curves. As a precaution, we halted the lubrication of trains and infrastructure at the end of last year," adding that the speed limits were an additional measure.

Since there were no new incidents from January to May, it was decided to lift the speed limits and resume using the same lubricant procedures as before.

In any case, since it is a question of metal grinding against metal, greasing the wheels is needed to avoid wearing down both rails and wheels, he added.

All previously used lubricants had the necessary certifications, Viisalu said, adding the decision now is for graphite-containing lubricants only to be permitted on Eesti Raudtee infrastructure.

These are seen as better facilitating consistent contact between train wheel and rail, he added.

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