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Rail transport in Estonia

The rail transport system in Estonia consists of about of railway lines, of which are currently in public use. The infrastructure of the railway network is mostly owned by the state and is regulated and surveyed by the Estonian Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority ().

All public railways in Estonia are (Russian gauge), the same as in Russia, Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania. The gauge used in Estonia is also compatible with Finland's gauge. Sometimes it is defined to be (see Rail gauge in Estonia), for example when buying track maintenance or vehicles from Finland.

Railways in Estonia today are used mostly for passenger traffic, with 8.3 million passengers reported in 2019. Passenger transport is most frequent near Tallinn, centred on the main Tallinn Baltic Station. Estonian railways are also used for freight transport, but the freight volumes have decreased significantly due to the disappearance of freight traffic from Russia after 2022.

The Tallinn to Tartu railway is due to be electrified by 2026, with electrification of the remaining network expected to be completed by 2028. 16 new electric trains manufactured by Å koda Transportation are due to come into service starting 2025, with the first having arrived in Estonia in June 2024.

History

Network

  • Total length: circa , of which in public use
  • Gauge: Russian gauge
  • Electrified: .

The Estonian railway network is owned by the state-owned company AS Eesti Raudtee and the private company Edelaraudtee Infrastruktuuri AS. These railway network infrastructure operators provide all railway network services for railway operators running freight and passenger services. AS Eesti Raudtee provides approximately of track, of which is double track and is electrified. Edelaraudtee Infrastruktuuri AS maintains of track which consists of of main line and of station line.

Main lines

Owned by AS Eesti Raudtee:

  • Tapa–Tartu, . Completed in 1877.<br> Passenger trains are operated by Elron (Tallinn–Tartu and Tartu–Jõgeva routes).
  • Tartu–Valga, 82.5km. Completed in 1887. International connection from Valga in Estonia to Valka in Latvia. <br>Passenger trains between Tartu and Valga are operated by Elron. Passenger trains between Valga and Riga are operated by Latvian Railways.
  • Tartu–Pechory, . Built between 1929 and 1931. International connection from Koidula railway station (Koidula) in Estonia to Pechory in Russia. Passenger trains are operated by Elron (Tartu–Koidula route).
  • Valga–Pechory, . Part of Riga–Pskov railway, opened to regular traffic in 1889. International connection from Koidula railway station in Estonia to Pechory in Russia. The line is used only by freight trains, as it was shut down with most other lines in 2001, but was not re-opened.

Owned by Edelaraudtee Infrastruktuuri AS:

  • Tallinn–Lelle–(Pärnu), (formerly 190.0km). The Lelle-Pärnu section was permanently closed for passenger operations on 8 December 2018 as it required a €17 million refurbishment. A rail service to Pärnu station will be resumed with the opening of the Rail Baltica line. There was an international connection from Mõisaküla to Latvia, however trains stopped running to Mõisaküla in 1996. The stretch Pärnu–Mõisaküla was abandoned in 2008.
  • Lelle–Viljandi, . This line connects Viljandi to the Tallinn–Pärnu line via Lelle. Passenger service remains on the route.

Major industrial railways

  • Põlevkivi Raudtee (oil shale railway) maintains over of track in Ida-Virumaa. Main use of the network is transporting oil shale from underground and open-cast mines to the Narva Power Plants. The company is a subsidiary of Eesti Põlevkivi, which itself is a subsidiary of Eesti Energia, owned by the state.
  • Rakvere–Kunda, . Built in 1896, this line connects the industrial town of Kunda to the Tallinn–Tapa–Narva line. The line is owned by private company Kunda Trans.

Future expansion

Rail Baltica is an ongoing greenfield railway infrastructure project which will link all Baltic States, including Estonia, 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. It will introduce standard-gauge high-speed rail with an operating speed of for passenger trains.

As of 2023, the Rail Baltica project completion is scheduled for 2030, with a start of services on some of the sections in 2028.

Conversion to Standard Gauge

A 2022 European Union proposal for all new rail lines to be Standard Gauge and a rolling plan introduced to convert other gauges to Standard would cost Estonia an estimated €8.7 billion which raises questions over cost/benefit.

Connections to adjacent countries

Until 2022, daily passenger service connected Tallinn with Moscow (night train; travel time is 15 hours) through Narva and Saint Petersburg and was operated by the Russian Railways.

As of autumn 2025, up to three daily trains operated by Latvian Railways connect Valga in Estonia to Riga in Latvia. One train per day continues all the way to Vilnius, Lithuania, with a possibility to continue next day to Poland. It is possible to travel between Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius on a single ticket and with a single train change at Valga, and the timetables of Tallinn–Valga and Valga–Riga(–Vilnius) are adjusted for that purpose, but this still takes a long time compared to buses or flights.

The other railway lines to neighbouring countries are not used for direct passenger traffic at the moment. Historic train routes are Tallinn–Moscow via Tartu and Pechory, and Riga–St. Petersburg via Valga, Võru, Piusa and Pechory. Both were closed in the 1990s.

A new high-speed line Tallinn–Warsaw known as Rail Baltica is currently under construction and is planned to be in operation in 2030. There have also been further proposals to construct a railway tunnel between Tallinn and Helsinki, Finland.

Railway links with adjacent countries

  • Same gauge:
  • Latvia – yes
  • at Valga – diesel trains only
  • Russia – yes
  • at Narva – diesel trains only
  • at Koidula – diesel trains only

Operators

Freight trains are operated by Eesti Raudtee and private companies including Estonian Railway Services (E.R.S. AS), and Spacecom.

Passenger services are offered by three operators:

See also

References

External links