For several years, the government has wanted to restore the Tartu-Riga connection to improve accessibility.

A longer-than-expected certification process meant the connection could not run between the cities during Tartu's year as the EU capital of culture.

But most of the issues have now been overcome and the project can move forward, said Märt Ehrenpreis, Elron board member.

"Essentially, we can say that this week, the documentation and preparatory work have reached a level where it is possible to submit the trial run application to the Latvian safety authority," he said.  

If there are no new surprises, a mandatory test run should be able to take place before the end of 2024.

Last year, the Riga-Vilnius train connection restarted, which has become very popular. However, it will not be possible to travel from Estonia to Lithuania on the same train until Rail Baltic is fully operational due to differing infrastructure.

"For example, the radio system in Latvia is different. In September, we successfully completed compatibility tests for the radio network, where we had to demonstrate, by adding a new radio type and an additional GPS antenna, that we can operate on the Latvian network. Although the railway safety equipment in Latvia should essentially be the same as in Estonia, the European authorization process requires practical proof of this. This testing scope and its results provide additional evidence that must be submitted as part of the authorization process," Ehrenpreis explained.

He said the train between Tartu and Riga will definitely start running next year: "I would speculate that it will fall into the second half of the year, but we still hope to wrap this up during the warm summer months."

Ticket prices, train speeds, and journey duration can be further discussed after the tests on both sides of the border.

Currently, one train per day is planned for the Tartu-Riga train line, which would go to Riga in the evening and back to Tartu in the morning. There would be five stops on the route before Riga – one on the border at Valga and four in Latvia.

In September, the Estonian coalition allocated €2 million to the connection. Ehrenpreis said funding is needed for the line and to keep it running.

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