Port of Tallinn to sell land to Estonian government for Rail Baltica development

Marco Raimondi — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 09:14:04 +0000

The port of Tallinn found an agreement with the Estonian government for the sale of eight properties, totalling 165,000 square metres, where the future Rail Baltica terminal in the Muuga harbour will be built. The deal was sealed for 4,84 million euros.
The Muuga harbour, part of the Port of Tallinn Group, is Estonia’s largest freight port and has an extensive rail network. The implementation of Rail Baltica is expected to further boost rail freight in the facility, and the port expects to significantly benefit from the sale of land to the Estonian state.

“Considering the location and the shape of transferable properties, it is unlikely that an alternative use of these properties would have generated significant sales revenue in the long term”, the group said. In the context of Rail Baltica, a new intermodal terminal will be built in Muuga. Together with similar facilities in Salaspils (near Riga, Latvia) and Palemonas (near Kaunas, Lithuania) the terminal in Muuga will constitute the logistics backbone of the line.

The future look of the Muuga port outlook after Rail Baltica implementation. Image: © Port of Tallinn

Rail Baltica

The ongoing construction of the Rail Baltica line, which will cross Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania connecting the Baltics to the standard gauge rail network, is not always a smooth process. Most of the issues concern funding, as it is a multi-billion euros initiative. Latvia seems to be the country facing the most issues, with concern over the plan and even threats to abandon the project due to lack of funding.

However, the importance of the project is ever growing, especially considering the current geopolitical tensions regarding Russia and the European Union. Having an infrastructure which allows the quick movement of military assets has become a prerogative in the Old Continent, and the difference in gauge (1520 mm in the Baltics and 1435 in most of the rest of Europe) is a significant obstacle. With Rail Baltica, this obstacle should be removed, but the finish line still seems quite far.

Map of Rail Baltica Image: Wikimedia Commons. © RB Rail AS

LTG Cargo takes a step closer to Europe and further from Russia

Marco Raimondi — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 13:07:46 +0000

The first-ever cross-Baltic rail freight service without the need to change locomotives is now reality. Moreover, it is the first time that a train operated by the Lithuanian rail freight operator LTG Cargo fully complied with European standards and did not share any data with Russia.
The train connects Kaunas, in Lithuania, with Muuga, in Estonia. It is made up of 15 wagons, 10 for the transport of semi-trailers and five for containers. This initiative is another step showing how the Baltic states want to distance themselves from Russia and become closer to the rest of Europe, as LTG Cargo’ CEO Eglė Šimė underlined.

From Russia’ GTT to the European Vehicle Register

Traditionally, rail freight services in the Baltics relied on the Russian GTT system, which included sharing data on rolling stock and cargo to the Kremlin. However, a new platform to register broad-gauge platform wagons to the European Vehicle Register now makes this procedure unnecessary. A test for this new type of service was launched at the beginning of 2024.

“It is the first time in the history of the restored Independence of Lithuania, when a train moves in the Baltic States based on the data of European Vehicle Register, based on the European certificate of Entities in Charge of Maintenance and – the most important! – without providing any redundant data to the Russian systems”, said the CRO of Lithuanian Railways Gediminas Seckus.