The CEO of Operail, Merle Kurvits, has responded to media attention for Operail Finland’s sale. Estonian media recently said Operail Finland’s sale was a 12 million euro “gift” to the Finnish rail industry. Kurvits refutes...Read more
Estonia lost 12,3 million euros with the sale of the Finnish branch of Operail. Last year it sold Operail Finland, the former name of the subsidiary, to Nurminen Logistics. Estonia sold the subsidiary at a...Read more
A petition to ban the export of manganese ore to Russia is picking up the pace in Latvia. The public initiative gathered a third of the required signatures for a parliamentary debate in a single...Read more
Rail Baltica will not pass through all of Riga before 2030. Latvia is missing three billion euros for the completion of the line through its capital city. The city has been a major obstacle for...Read more
Lithuanian state-owned rail freight operator, LTG Cargo, recently started transporting petroleum products between Bugeniai, in Luthiania, and Valga, in Estonia. The initiative is another reflection of how operators in the Baltics are looking to diversify...Read more
Latvia has banned agricultural imports from Russia and Belarus. The Baltic country is the first EU country to go as far as to introduce a total ban on Russian agricultural products. The ban will last...Read more
Rail Baltica Estonia has signed new construction contracts for a part of the Rail Baltica mainline in the northernmost Baltic country. According to the project’s organisation, the newly signed contracts covering 16 kilometres of its...Read more
Lithuanian rail operator LTG Cargo has run its first continuous pilot train across all Baltic countries. It is the company’s first independently run cargo train traversing all three Baltic states. As Baltic rail operators have...Read more
Estonian national rail operator Operail has announced a new business strategy that involves full privatisation. The privatisation is a necessary step to find additional financial sources. According to the company, privatisation will also enable the...Read more
The losses of Estonian Railways are expected to continue and worsen in the coming years. Earlier, Estonia reported a decline of 43 per cent in freight volumes following sanctions on Russian goods.Read more
The European Commission has been clear about its demands for the construction of Rail Baltica. The railway needs to be finished and have trains running by 2030 to continue funding. A key question is whether...Read more
Rail freight in Estonia has taken a hit. Transport volumes dropped by 43 per cent on a yearly basis in comparison to 2022. According to the Estonian statistics agency, the drop can mostly be attributed...Read more
The Estonian state-owned company Operail has sent its old locomotives to the scrapyard. They will now be dismantled, and the remaining materials will be sold off to interested parties. The move comes amid a difficult...Read more
Latvian rail freight operator LDZ Cargo aims to expand its business operations in neighbouring Baltic countries. It has succeeded in winning public tenders in Estonia, and it has secured access to Lithuania’s public railway infrastructure...Read more
The Estonian national rail freight company, Operail, has been experiencing drastic disruptions since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Despite significant cuts to operating costs, the company “continued to operate at a loss...Read more
Lithuania-based LTG Cargo is taking steps to begin operations in neighbouring states Estonia and Latvia. The company is in the process of obtaining carrier safety certificates in the two countries. The Lithuanian state-owned carrier made...Read more
Cargo transported by rail in the three Baltic countries–Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, has noted fluctuations in the years following 2018. The significant losses of transit traffic, mostly on the east-west axis, have impacted rail freight...Read more
The Estonian national rail freight company Operail has transported 1,1 million tons of goods during the first half of 2023. This is the second consecutive year the company has lost significant volumes in the first...Read more
Ukrainian grain exports are currently running smoothly also via rail. Congestion is at normal levels; however, in two-three weeks, the new peak export season will be here after the summer harvest. Ukraine’s options for transporting...Read more
INTERVIEWLatvian Railway’s cargo subsidiary in Estonia, SIA LDZ Cargo, might be one of the company’s financial lifelines in these uncertain and challenging times. While the mother group scrumbles for revenue to survive its immense losses,...Read more
Operail, the Estonian national railway company, sold the third and last batch of its rolling stock. “With this, all wagons belonging to Operail Leasing have been sold and the rental business has ended”, the company...Read more