Priority plans for railways in Latvia

Latvia has historically been on the crossroads of European transport routes. Its geographical location allows the country to be a considerable player in cargo transportation and logistics, serving significant cargo volumes from our Western partner countries (in the EU) and other places to the east – countries such as Russia, Belarus, as well as Ukraine and countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and China.

As a result of increasing demand, the focus for forthcoming years will be to increase container train operations, projects to improve efficiency and the development of railway passenger services.

Due to well developed railway infra – structure, including a broad gauge railway system, Latvia can offer privileged opportunities compared to other countries. Using the developed infrastructure of Latvia’s ports in Riga, Ventspils, and Liepaja, we can ensure there is no need for railway wagon gauge change and cargo reloading for cargo flow by land from any CIS country, even from China.

Also, Latvia has significant experience in organising container train services in the Baltic region. The last three years of operations have seen a constant increase in volumes. For example, the North-South direction operated by the container train ‘Baltica-Transit’ regained its strength in 2010. Next, in cooperation with the railway companies of Latvia, Belarus and Estonia, the container train ‘Zubr’ was formed. It has been running on the route Riga–Minsk–Riga since summer of 2009. Special tariff rates, simplified border crossings and customs control procedures are applied to all participants of the project. For fulfillment of the demand for container freight services, in the spring of 2011, one hundred fitting platforms will be delivered to Latvian Railway and there are plans for more platforms to be purchased.

The high quality of our services, as well as the security of our transit corridor, has been appreciated by the CIS countries. Also, since 2009, the railways of Latvia have been used for NATO non-military freight to Afghanistan. This container train service requires additional attention to security and an increase in volumes transported demonstrates the high recognition of the Latvian railway system by international society.

Major Latvia railway development projects that are aimed to increase the system throughput capacity are the construction of the second track on the section Skriveri– Krustpils and the development of the Riga railway junction.

Implementation of the ICT based intelligent transport management processes are expected to give significant cost savings to our customers and increased railway safety. In order to enable such a development, it is critical to build up an appropriate communications infrastructure. It is planned to complete the fibre optical network with connections to each railway station. The national ERTMS implementation plan is to put the GSM-R wireless communications system into operation by 2017. LDz (Latvijas Dzelzceļš/Latvia Railways) has already started centralisation of its traffic management processes. The plan is to implement the single centralised traffic control system.

Similarly, soon the feasibility study of the electrification of the major railway lines shall be finalised. The possible scenarios are developed, and their economic evaluation is ongoing. However, the development of the sustainable financing model would be the key issue. And depending on the survey results, the design of the next project stage is expected to commence in 2011.

To develop railway passenger services, passenger rail operator JSC ‘Pasazieru vilciens’ (Passenger train) has started a tender for the purchase of 34 EMUs and seven DMUs. We expect to complete the project by mid-2015. The purchase of new rolling stock will facilitate implementation of economically advantageous and passenger (especially disabled people) friendly transport. In addition, a regular interval timetable will be introduced in Riga as provided in the Riga and the Riga Region Mobility Plan.

For passenger services, it is also envisaged to revitalise the so-called Rail Baltica project, which was postponed due to the consequences of the economic downturn and cuts to public funding. Baltic States already have agreed that their priority would be to connect Estonian and Latvian capital cities as well as the city of Kaunas in Lithuania with the shortest connection times possible. Also, due to the increasing demand of railway services, Latvia is evaluating a possibility to improve passenger services for Latvian and European citizens to Russia.

Although passenger service infrastructure has been underinvested in previous years, we believe that railways shall play a significant role in ensuring the mobility of citizens. We believe that implementation of new rolling stock and the introduction of a regular interval timetable will contribute to the increase of railway passenger flows and the decrease of intensity of vehicular transport, thus air pollution will be diminished.