Baiba Rubesa: The potential of Rail Baltic is 5 million passengers and 16 million tons of cargo per year
On June 14, several entrepreneurs gathered in Muuga Harbour to listen to the presentation of NGO Rail Baltic Business Network and discuss further developments of the railway project. Business opportunities regarding the intended Rail Baltic cargo terminal to Muuga were also discussed, says Port of Tallinn.
Speakers also included Port of Tallinn’s Chairman of the Management Board Valdo Kalm and Baiba Rubesa, the CEO of the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian joint company RB Rail Ltd.
Port of Tallinn’s Chairman of the Management Board Valdo Kalm gave an overview of Muuga Harbour’s work and development plans focusing on the project of Rail Baltic.
“The support towards Rail Baltic’s passenger traffic is high in all three Baltic States, but the parties are more sceptical when talking about the cargo flow. At the same time, Finland already sees the need and opportunities that Rail Baltic can offer. We can also notice that more and more Estonian entrepreneurs acknowledge the potential of Muuga’s multimodal cargo terminal in conjunction with Vuosaari’s container terminal,” said Kalm.
According to the CEO of RB Rail Ltd. Baiba Rubesa the Rail Baltic project is of high priority for Europe as it covers the important, jet missing, sections of the European railway system.
“For the Baltic States it the biggest joint infrastructure project of the century allowing us to transport 5 million passengers and 16 million tons of cargo per year. Technical details and research will be put together by 2020 and the construction works of the new railway line in the Baltic States will be finished by 2025,“ described Rubesa.
“Rail Baltic will connect the cities of Kaunas, Riga, Pärnu and Tallinn with a section of 730 kilometres and will also create connections to the main transport nodes. This will ensure a comprehensive and sustainable development of the national economy and also improve passenger mobility between the North and South,“ added Rubesa.
According to Tõnis Tamme, the Member of the Management Board of NGO Rail Baltic Business Network and a partner at the law firm TRINITI, the fast railway Rail Baltic is one of EU’s priority projects for the coming decade. The objective of the founded NGO is to achieve greater awareness and involvement of the Rail Baltic project among Estonian entrepreneurs.
“We aim to map the new business opportunities that arise thanks to the new fast railway connection and establish a trustworthy and meaningful dialog between enterprises and the partners of the public sector who are leading the process. Recently our network gained three new members: Lemminkäinen Estonia Ltd, State Resources Centre Ltd. and KMG Inseneriehituse Ltd.,“ added Tamme.
