Rail transport in Latvia

Rail transport in Latvia is done on 1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in) Russian gauge. The main railway company is the state-owned Latvijas dzelzceļš (LDz), with its subsidiary Pasažieru vilciens (PV) providing passenger services.

RVR ER2Т-7116 of Pasažieru vilciens en route between Šķirotava (Riga) and Salaspils, 2016

Historically Latvia had lot of different rail gauges, most notably 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge and 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) narrow gauge. These were gradually replaced by the Russian gauge after the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states.

The Rail Baltica project aims to connect Latvia and the other Baltic states to the European standard gauge by approximately 2030. Ten regional stations are planned in the section from Bauska to Salacgrīva.[1]

Although PV has been a monopolist in passenger train, in February 2022 the Road Transport Administration of the Ministry of Transport of Latvia announced the first market survey on potential private rail passenger service providers.[2]

Future expansion
See also: Rail Baltica

Rail Baltica is an ongoing greenfield railway infrastructure project which will link all Baltic States, including Lithuania, Poland and, eventually, Finland. Being a part of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T), it is one of the priority projects of the European Union.[3] It will introduce standard-gauge high-speed rail with an operating speed of 249 km/h for passenger trains.[3] The project is expected to be complete by 2026.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Integrated rail plan for Rīga and regions being drawn up". eng.Lsm.lv. 2020-02-19. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  2. "There is a market survey conducted for the provision of rail passenger transport starting from 2025 in Latvia | Satiksmes ministrija". www.sam.gov.lv. 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-07-13.
  3. "Rail Baltica – Project of the Century". Rail Baltica. Retrieved 15 October 2021.
  4. "Agreement of the development of the Rail Baltic/Rail Baltica railway connection" (PDF). RailBaltica. 2017. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
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