Rail transport in Estonia
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The rail transport system in Estonia consists of circa 1200 km of railway lines, of which 900 km are currently in public use. The infrastructure of the railway network is completely privatized and is regulated and surveyed by the Estonian Railway Inspectorate (Estonian: Raudteeinspektsioon).
All railways in Estonia are broad gauge (1520 mm), the same as in Russia, Belarus, Latvia, and Lithuania. The 1520 mm gauge used in Estonia is also compatible with Finland's 1524 mm gauge.
Railways in Estonia today are used mostly for freight transport, but also for passenger traffic. Passenger transport is most frequent near Tallinn, centred on the main Baltic Station.
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[edit] Network
- Total length: circa 1200 km, of which 958 km in public use[1].
- Gauge: 1520 mm broad gauge
- Electrified: circa 130 km.
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 800 km of track, of which 107 km is double track and 133 km is electrified. Edelaraudtee Infrastruktuuri AS maintains 298 km of track which consists of 219 km of main line and 79 km of station line.
[edit] Main lines
Owned by AS Eesti Raudtee:
- Tallinn–Tapa–Narva, 209.6 km. This line was completed in 1870. It was originally a part of the railway network of the Russian Empire, connecting Paldiski to St. Petersburg via Tallinn and Narva.
- Tallinn–Keila–Paldiski, 47.7 km.
- Keila–Riisipere, 24.4 km. This line is part of the former Tallinn–Haapsalu line, that was completed in 1905.
- Tapa–Tartu, 112.5 km.
- Tartu–Valga, 82.5 km. International connection from Valga in Estonia to Valka in Latvia.
- Tartu–Petseri, 83.5 km. International connection from Piiroja in Estonia to Petseri in Russia. The line was built between 1929 and 1931.
- Valga–Petseri, 91.5 km. International connection from Piiroja in Estonia to Petseri in Russia.
Owned by Edelaraudtee Infrastruktuuri AS:
- Tallinn–Lelle–Pärnu–Mõisaküla, 190.0 km. International connection has existed from Mõisaküla to Latvia, but there is no connection at the moment. The stretch Pärnu–Mõisaküla is planned to be removed.[2]
- Lelle–Viljandi, 78.7 km. This line connects Viljandi to the Tallinn–Mõisaküla line via Lelle.
[edit] Connections to adjacent countries
A daily passenger service connects Tallinn with St. Petersburg and Moscow, operated by the Estonian company GO Rail. The other railway lines to neighbouring countries are not used for direct passenger traffic at the moment, even though it is possible to take a taxi from Valga in Estonia over the border to Latvia, and continue the journey southwards towards Riga from there.
[edit] Operators
Freight trains are operated by Eesti Raudtee. Passenger services are offered by three operators:
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ CIA - The World Factbook -- Estonia (2007-08-16). Retrieved on 2007-08-19.
- ^ Tanel Mazur. "Mõisaküla: viimane sõit raudteed pidi Pärnusse", Eesti Päevaleht, 2007-07-16. Retrieved on 2007-08-11. (Estonian)
[edit] External links
- Estonian Railway Inspectorate — Web pages containing various statistical information about the railway network and operations in Estonia.
- Estonian Railway Museum in Haapsalu (history page) (Estonian)
- Estonian private Railway Company "GoRail" official website (Russian)/(Estonian)
