Russian railway boss Vladimir Yakunin said in an interview with the Estonian daily Eesti Paevaleht that in his view there is no logic in expecting benefit from the construction of Rail Baltic instead of developing the 1520 mm gauge infrastructure.
Yakunin: It's not logical to expect benefit from Rail Baltic
10th June 2013, 18:05
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"It's said this project will create connections between capital cities of the Baltic states. But there are other ways to achieve this," Yakunin said.
In Yakunin's words, Rail Baltic-related issues are primarily political and he was not going to make assessments of European Union and Baltic states' politicians. Nonetheless, "from an expert's point of view, it's an unnecessary expenditure," he added.
Rail Baltic will create two railway systems, Yakunin pointed out. "After all, Estonia does not intend to give up the 1520 mm gauge. If it did it would also give up freight flows from Russia.
"In order to serve two different systems, two sets of standards, two types of depots, two different systems to work the infrastructure will be needed," he explained.
"Thus, outlays both on the infrastructure and on ensuring traffic will increase about twofold or more. I can't see any economic sense in this," the Russian railway boss said.
In Yakunin's opinion, Rail Baltic will not increase freight flows because goods have never been carried on a railway line through the three Baltic states.