Challenges and solution approaches regarding the Rail Baltica project

• In Event: Twenty Years of Membership in the EU: Economic Developments in the Baltic states

Abstract

The independence of the Baltic States from the Soviet Union and their accession to the European Union have strengthened their efforts to improve their European infrastructural integration. As far as railroad infrastructure is concerned, major differences in technical standards and a strong orientation towards the Russian rail network make cross-border rail traffic difficult in relation to the rest of the European Union. To overcome these incompatibilities and create a continuous rail link between the Baltic States and Central Europe, construction of the Rail Baltica project began in 2021. The final Rail Baltica line is to be embedded in the trans-European transport network and is therefore subject to the various legal requirements of the European Union. The presentation aims to look at the challenges arising from these guidelines from an environmental, geopolitical, technical and network perspective. In addition, the challenges related to project funding at European level will be discussed and the current financing status of Rail Baltica will be assessed. The presentation will demonstrate how the Rail Baltica project is dealing with these challenges and will show that the solutions to the guideline-related issues are currently more advanced than those for the financial challenges.

Author

• Jonathan Pritzlaff, University of Greifswald