On 11 August 2020 the Cabinet of Ministers of Latvia took a position in favour of a single joint infrastructure manager for the Rail Baltica line. To pursue this goal, the Government of Latvia designated the national implementing body of Rail Baltica in Latvia, SIA Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas (EDZL) to commence necessary legal and administrative process in Latvia to facilitate the preparations for the Rail Baltica infrastructure management.
During the Cabinet meeting, Tālis Linkaits, the Minister of Transport of Latvia emphasised: “Latvia’s goal is to achieve a single joint Rail Baltica infrastructure management in all three Baltic States. We have reached this agreement in various meetings with experts and industry representatives. We must be able to use the new line effectively and offer a new quality of services. It can be best achieved by a single joint infrastructure management.”
While discussions between the Baltic States about the optimal Rail Baltica infrastructure are still ongoing, in the interim period EDZL will carry out the following tasks:
- Ensure maintenance of the newly built infrastructure and objects;
- Carry-out land acquisition;
- Develop national legal acts and regulations to set up the joint Rail Baltica infrastructure management framework.
Minister Linkaits stressed that it is in the interest of the future railway operators, logistics industry and other railway users to establish a single joint Rail Baltica infrastructure manager to carry out the key functions of a cross-border infrastructure manager, strongly committed to promoting equal access and a well-functioning railway market by ensuring fair competition and equal access to the infrastructure.
Kaspars Vingris, EDZL Chairman of Management Board says: “Before staring the development of the Rail Baltica infrastructure model, each country has a homework to do: create legal framework; decide on the management of operations in the multi-modal maintenance facilities such as Riga Central station and Salaspils intermodal Terminal as well as provide necessary human and technical recourses. The goal is to ensure customer friendly Rail Baltica infrastructure which is also integrated with other modes of transport. To achieve joint management of the infrastructure we will work closely with Rail Baltica implementing bodies in Estonia, Lithuania and colleagues from RB Rail AS.”