06.03.2010 - Work begins on Rail Baltica

PKP Polish State Railways has applied for environmental approval for the Bialystok-Elk-Olecko-Suwalki-<wbr></wbr>Trakiszki-state border variant of the Rail Baltica international railway line. The Regional Directorate for Environmental Protection (RDOS) in Bialystok has set the final course of the route – the Directorate is to issue environmental approval for the project, which is mandatory before the modernisation work on the existing line can begin.

Rail Baltica, i.e. line E75, connects Warsaw with Kowno, Tallin, Ryga and Helsinki. It represents part of the first Trans-European Rail Corridor and is the only connection with, among other countries, the Baltic States. The line in Poland is 341 km in length, and modernisation of the section covering Bialystok, Suwalki, Trakiszki and the Lithuanian Border, will cost around PLN 700m (€170m). If the Lithuanians want to take part in the undertaking all the documentation will be translated and sent to their equivalent of Poland's RDOS.