The Tallinn-Tartu timetable change planned for early October will not go ahead, and will take effect on November 2 instead, Estonian Railways says. The delay is due to Siemens Mobility running into difficulties submitting the documents required to obtain an operating permit.

"The owner's supervision team, when reviewing the documents, found shortcomings that need to be corrected first," Estonian Railways technical director Arvo Smiltinš told "Aktuaalne kaamera"

Estonian Railways says construction work is on schedule; the overhead contact line from Tapa to Kiltsi has been energized and the traffic management and signaling systems have passed testing.

Work to upgrade the Tallinn-Tartu line was already held up last year when the commissioning of the new traffic management system at Tapa station was postponed due to incomplete safety documentation submitted by Siemens.

"We will certainly handle the contract as the contract stipulates. We have also linked contractual penalties to deadlines, so we are waiting for the final deadline," Smiltinš said. "We can demand contractual penalties once the deadlines for the work have passed."

According to Smiltinš, terminating the contract with Siemens Mobility would not have made sense. Siemens Mobility has to develop a solution unique to Estonia, while the customer's expectations have changed over time.

"To my knowledge, the procurement contract with Siemens has been amended eight times and additional work has been added. There was Narva, Tapa station. So there may be expectations on both sides regarding amendments to the contract. We can assess the process once it has been completed and contractual relations with the contractors have been settled," said Ain Tatter, head of the railway department at the Ministry of Climate.

According to Tatter, electric trains will be able to begin running to Tartu in the new year under a temporary operating permit, with the final permit probably obtained in 2027. The temporary permit should also allow speeds of up to 160 km/h.

Under the state's original plans, electric trains were supposed to run to Tartu by the end of 2024. "Aktuaalne kaamera" was unable to obtain a comment from Siemens Mobility on Monday.

Elron's earlier schedule, introduced in September, meant passengers travelling north from Elva on the Valga line could no longer reach Tallinn before 10 a.m., with a 45-minute transfer in Tartu adding to the journey. Elva Deputy Mayor Juhani Jaeger called it an "unpleasant change," and passengers said a morning commute of two hours and 40 minutes had stretched into nearly four hours. Elron said at the time that travel times should shorten from October 5 and the Tartu wait could drop to a few minutes by November 2.

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