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Rail transport inLatvia is done on1,520 mm (4 ft 11+27⁄32 in)Russian gauge. The mainrailway company is the state-ownedLatvijas dzelzceļš (LDz), with its subsidiaryPasažieru vilciens (PV) providing passenger services.
Historically Latvia had lot of differentrail gauges, most notably1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)standard gauge and750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in)narrow gauge. These were gradually replaced by the Russian gauge after theSoviet occupation of the Baltic states.
TheRail Baltica project aims to connect Latvia and the otherBaltic states to the Europeanstandard gauge by approximately 2030. Ten regional stations are planned in the section fromBauska toSalacgrīva.[1]
Although PV has been a monopolist in passenger train, in February 2022 the Road Transport Administration of the Ministry of Transport of Latvia announced the first market survey on potential private rail passenger service providers.[2]
Rail Baltica is an ongoinggreenfield railway infrastructure project which will link allBaltic States, including Latvia,Poland and, eventually,Finland. Being a part of theTrans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T), it is one of the priority projects of theEuropean Union.[3] It will introducestandard-gaugehigh-speed rail with an operating speed of 249 km/h for passenger trains.[3] As of 2023, the Rail Baltica project completion is scheduled for 2030, with a start of services on some of the sections in 2028.[4]
—Belarus, same gauge (1520 mm)
—Estonia, compatible gauge (1524 mm)
—Lithuania, same gauge (1520 mm)
—Russia, same gauge (1520 mm)In 2022 the European Union proposed to convert all non-standard gauges in Europe to standard gauge. The Latvian government believes it would require major EU funding to implement.[5]
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