Over the weekend, the waning advantage of rail travel over other modes of transport in Estonia came up in a debate that broke out on social media.

Businessman Tõnu Runnel, who frequently travels between Tallinn and Tartu by train with his family, wrote that in terms of ticket prices, Estonia does now effectively rank among the five richest countries in Europe. A roundtrip journey for four from Tartu to Tallinn, he noted, costs €130.

By comparison, he pointed out, the same trip by car would cost €30.

Commenting on the topic in an appearance on ETV's "Terevisioon" Tuesday morning, Betlem acknowledged that train ticket prices have increased, by an average of 10 percent, three times over the past five years. He justified the hikes by citing rapidly rising input costs and budget cuts made last fall.

Regarding the company's revenue, the CEO noted that ticket sales cover a third of all costs, with the rest coming from the state.

"Our pricing is primarily driven by demand," he explained. "In areas where higher price hikes have been possible, we've applied them. In places where demand is weaker and people's spending capacity is already stretched thin, we didn't raise prices — and in some cases, we even lowered them. The most extreme example is probably the Tallinn-Valga route, where we brought ticket prices down considerably."

Betlem noted that passenger preferences depend more on service quality than price. For example, westbound trains from Tallinn to Keila, Paldiski and Riisipere are seeing steady growth in passenger numbers, even with the rise in ticket prices.

According to the rail operator chief, Elron's quality of service there is exemplified by the fact that trains from Keila depart for Tallinn every 20 minutes — and every ten minutes during peak hours.

More trains planned for Tartu

On the Tallinn-Tartu and Tallinn-Narva routes, however, major infrastructure work has been underway in recent years, negatively impacting the operator's quality of service. This, in turn, has had an impact on passenger numbers as well, Betlem admitted.

Thus, while Elron's overall ridership continues to grow, it has fallen on the Tartu route due to travel times getting longer, leaving trains without a competitive advantage over cars or buses to Estonia's second city.

Elron expects that once infrastructure work on the Tallinn-Tartu stretch of the railway is completed, more departures can be added on that route — and the trains needed to do so are already in place.

Betlem also added that Elron currently has no plans for another price hike, but acknowledged it's unclear what this fall's budget process will bring.

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