The Lithuanian Transport Minister does not intend to ask for EU funding for Rail Baltica’s connection with Vilnius / Day

TV3 told TV3 that the state budget did not have funds for the construction of the European standard railway line between Kaunas and Vilnius.

« If we were to do so on a larger scale, the cost could reach almost four billion euros. This is a huge amount of money, and at the moment, neither we nor the EU are ready to allocate so much funding for this particular project, » said the Lithuanian Minister of Transport.

« The initiative for funding must come from us. At the moment, I do not want to take this initiative, because the focus is still focused on connecting from Tallinn to Warsaw, » he explained.

As Sabutis said, the existing railway line between Kaunas and Wave works well and is suitable for transport.

« Sooner or later it will definitely have to be built on the width of the European track, but probably later than before, » Sabutis said, adding that « the answer is: later ».

Valdis Benkuns, Mayor of Vilnius, commented on TV3 this decision was « great betrayal and turn away from Vilnius ».

At the end of May, the Transport Ministers of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia signed a joint statement stating that the Baltic States will jointly negotiate long -term EU funding and look for additional sources of funding to speed up the construction of Rail Baltica.

Dabutis has said earlier that the project is being considered to be a guarantee that the loan will be reimbursed from further EU funding.

In February, Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (LTG), Lietuvos Geležinkeliai (LTG) subsidiary Rail Baltica Statyba, CEO of Arenijus Jackus, told BNS that the European railway railway section from Kaunas to Vilnius would not be built until 2030.

Jackus said that this part of the project could be completed faster if the private sector partnership were to be secured and a temporary alternating track mechanism could also be installed.

In a joint report published last June, the auditors of the Baltic States warned that the completion of the planned work in all three countries could require an additional 10-19 billion euros, of which EUR 8.7 billion only is needed in Lithuania alone.

Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintaut Palucks has announced that the entire Rail Baltica project is currently lacking funding of approximately EUR 11 billion.

According to the State Railway Group infrastructure company « LTG Infras », Lithuania has so far raised EUR 1.6 billion for the Rail Baltica project, of which EUR 289.6 million has already been spent on EUR 250.5 million.

The full Rail Baltica project, which will connect the Baltic States with the rest of Europe, is scheduled to be completed in 2030, and the Lithuanian and Polish railway tracks are expected to be connected in 2028.

The line is expected to lead through Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Paneveza, Kaunas, Vilnius and Warsaw, and the Lithuanian section will be 392 kilometers.