Most of the European Union relies on a network of practical and efficient rail systems, but rail travel between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania is rather uncommon. Despite their small size and proximity to one another, there are no direct rail links between the capital cities of Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius. While it is possible to get from one capital to the other by rail, it requires multiple time-consuming stops; traveling by bus is much faster and easier. This is a curious deviation from the rest of the European Union's well-connected railways.
But this lack of trains is no accident. Because of the Baltics' long history under the Soviet Union and, before that, the Russian Empire, the states have transport networks that are linked with their large eastern neighbor rather than with Europe. In terms of rail networks, all public railways in the Baltic states use the Russian gauge of 1,520-millimeter (nearly 60-inch) track. Most of Europe, however, uses the standard gauge of 1,435 millimeters. This difference is the result of a conscious decision by the Soviets to insulate the Soviet Union from the rest of Europe for security purposes.
Once the Baltic countries gained their independence from the Soviet Union, converting their rail networks to the standard gauge and connecting with the rest of Europe became a priority, especially after they became members of the European Union in 2004. They soon proposed the Rail Baltica project, which is still in the works and envisions a continuous rail link from Tallinn to the Polish capital of Warsaw via Riga and Vilnius. (Finland's capital, Helsinki, would also be connected to the rail network via ferry service to Tallinn.)
On Oct. 28, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania agreed to create a joint venture company known as the RB Railway Group to execute the Rail Baltica project. Under the agreement, each state will provide 650,000 euros (roughly $810,000) in startup capital for RB Railway and hold a 33.3 percent share in the company. The formation of this joint venture company was a prerequisite for the rail project to be eligible for funding from the European Union's Connecting Europe Facility, which has a budget of 26 billion euros to allocate for transport projects within the European Union for the 2014-2020 funding period. With an estimated cost of 3.7 billion euros, Rail Baltica is the largest infrastructure project in the Baltic region, and without EU assistance, the states would be unable to finance it. The application to obtain EU funding for Rail Baltica must be finalized by 2016. In the meantime, RB railway has already begun on the initial phases of construction.
