The Riga-Kaunas section of the European standard gauge railway Rail Baltica will be built first, Lithuanian Transport and Communications Minister Marius Skuodis has announced. The Rail Baltica railway, which will connect Warsaw, Kaunas, Vilnius, Riga, Tallinn and Helsinki, will complete the sector’s integration into the European rail network, the Lithuanian minister said during the Transport…
Entry restrictions for Russian citizens with tourist visas for the Schengen area came into force in the Baltic States and Poland on September 19. At the Narva border crossing point, the situation appears to be calm, and the number of crossings is much lower compared to summer. According to the European Border and Coast Guard…
Tests to be conducted ahead of desynchronizing the Estonian electricity grid from that of the Russian Federation should not be conducted until all three Baltic States are ready, grid distributor Elering says. Elering made the announcement after its Lithuanian equivalent, Litgrid, said that it was postponing a planned de-synchronization test, which had been due to…
The European Commission vows to provide additional funding for the construction of Rail Baltica, a high-speed railway project linking Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland. Last summer, the Commission allocated more than 350 million euros for the project, and plans to continue doing so in the future, according to Radvile Morkunaite-Mikuleniene, chair of Lithuania’s parliamentary Committee…
The Incukalns gas storage facility in Latvia – the only one of its kind in the Baltic States – is emptying, and is currently less than 50% full. Gas storage facilities in Europe are currently around 80% full, while the Incukalns facility has dropped to 49.7% of its capacity. “The whole Baltic region and Finland…
Stored reserves of natural gas serving not only Estonia but also Latvia, Lithuania and Finland are currently at 55% capacity, ahead of heating season, compared with a European average of 80%. The gas storage facility at Incukalns, Latvia holds the reserves for all three Baltic States plus Finland. Energy policy expert Andres Mae said: “As…
Estonian and Latvian ministers met in Tartu on August 16 to discuss transport connections between the countries, including a train connection between Tartu and Riga and Rail Baltic. Minister of Economic Affairs and Infrastructure Riina Sikkut (SDE) and Minister of Transport Talis Linkaits met in Estonia’s second city and agreed connections between Tartu and Riga…