The premise for saving time is provided by the reconstruction of the West Harju railway, which has lasted for years, and allows both a more frequent schedule and the use of express trains.
The railway lines to the west of Tallinn have been reconstructed for more than five years. Stations, contact networks, new tracks, waiting platforms, tunnels, bridges and overpasses have been built, and the Soviet-era traffic control systems have been replaced. Of course, this has meant some trouble for the passengers: in the best case, the inconvenience has been limited to a less frequent schedule and longer travel time; in more difficult periods replacement buses have also been used.
Now, however, the long-awaited light has appeared at the end of the tunnel, and the major projects costing 74 million euros will soon be completed. “The last work on the Tallinn-Keila-Paldiski line was finished in November, so in terms of physical infrastructure, this section is now really complete,” says Urmas Leinfeld, West Harju chief project manager of Estonian Railways. “Traffic control systems are still being tested; this is why traffic lights are not working at the crossings and traffic is controlled via telephones.”
Since the trains are currently not controlled by automatic systems, the schedule is about 40 percent less frequent than usual, and the trains move very slowly at crossings. According to Leinfeld, it is the final effort. “I admit that the tests of the automatic blocking software take a damn long time. But by the end of the first quarter at the latest, everything will be ready between Tallinn and Paldiski, and the life of train passengers in the western direction will probably become better than ever in the spring,” Leinfeld promises, adding that the project still cannot be declared complete as the railway repair between Riisipere and Vasalemma continues also in the coming year.