The project «To Tartu in 1.5 hours» lives on

The plan to travel from Tallinn to Tartu within 1.5 hours in 2025 is alive and strong. Photo: Sille Annuk / Tartu Postimees

Although the new coalition has begun to slow down the intensive development of four-lane highways, the railway’s dreams of faster connections live on. The plan to travel from Tallinn to Tartu within 1.5 hours in 2025 is alive and strong.

Kaido Zimmermann, who became the CEO of Estonian Railways in January, knew that his job would not be easy. He was viewing an analysis stating that simultaneously with the already planned electrification of railways, the Tallinn-Tartu railway should be straightened out, so as to liquidate curves preventing the trains from achieving maximum speed. The analysis commissioned by Estonian railways emphasised that postponing the straightening would later become extremely expensive and require extensive reconstruction.

The new CEO therefore has no other option but to launch the plan as soon as possible. And though the government’s budget cutting policy has reduced infrastructure projects, the goal of reaching Tartu quickly by rail has not been affected. “The plan is still in force and the funding has been foreseen. The application is till waiting for the final approval from Brussels but preparations are already in progress;” Zimmermann told Postimees

Not all the money is there

The railway electrification is to be financed from the European Union Cohesion Fund. The estimated cost of electrification (the Tartu, Narva, Valga, Koidula directions) will be 278.78 million euros with the co-financing share of the state being 78 million. The straightening of the curves on the Tallinn-Tartu and Tapa-Narva lines will claim an additional 58 million euros, the state’s own share included.

However, some portions of the state’s co-financing amount have not been met for the time being. “The amount is 42 million which is quite a lot for us. But I know that the ministry is working on it and seeking for a solution,” Zimmermann told Postimees.

The Ministry of Economy and Communication assured Postimees that there are there are several options for finding the necessary amount and that they will return to them in the second half of the year.

If the money from the EU should become available and the state should manage to find the deficient amount, the Tallinn-Tartu stretch would be the first to be electrified. According to Zimmermann, the new Škoda electric trains arriving in 2024 should be able to travel at top speed of 160 kilometres per hour. “There is a lot of work to do: straightening the railway, electrification and changes to the signalisation systems. But if the EU funding should come and everything will be all right with privately-owned land, we should be able to complete the project by deadline. The timetable will be quite intense, of course. The Estonian Railway Co has never before carried out a project of that size in so short a time, but everyone is making effort to get it done,” the railway manager said.

Due to the timetable, preparations on the Tallinn-Tartu stretch are already in progress, even before the EU approval and the allocation of funding. “At present we are waiting for the specifications from the municipalities so as to launch the design tenders for the straightening. We are also preparing the plot allocation plan so as to start purchasing the land as soon as possible,” Zimmermann explained.

Purchasing the land is what makes the project so complicated. Although the ministry declares that many of the stretches to be straightened remain within the limits of the land belonging to the railway firm, others do not. “We have to undertake extensive straightening between Kaarepere, Tabivere and Kärkna. We have to buy the land involved from private owners and this might prevent us from meeting the deadline with that stretch,” Zimmermann warned.

Compulsory purchase cannot be ruled out

According to the ministry, the option that some curves would remain untouched because of land owners’ opposition, has not been considered at present. “We are hopeful that agreements with the owners regarding the purchase can be achieved. If an agreement should be impossible, the law allows for compulsory purchase. Yet we wish to reach an agreement with the land owners which would be acceptable to all parties, since the planned changes to the railway line will be carried out anyway,” said Indrek Gailan, head of the ministry’s department of transport development and investments.

Major construction work concerning both the electrification and straightening the curves should begin in 2023; current efforts concern planning and tenders. If everything should go as planned, Elron’s Škoda trains will race between Tallinn and Tartu at 160 kilometres per hour already in three and a half years. “Since the new trains will arrive in the end of 2024, the present goal is to be able to travel to Tartu on fast electric trains after the change of the timetable in mid-December 2024,” the CEO of Estonian Railways said. In case of 160-kilometre speed, travelling from the Tallinn Baltic or Ülemiste stations to Tartu would take one hour and 30 or 35 minutes, Gailan added.