How would Smart IoT shape our lives in the future?
The Project Rail Baltica is more than just a railway in the Baltics!
It’s hard to imagine that you travelled faster from Berlin to Riga 100 years ago than today. Back then the railway was a popular transportation road and the luxury train “North Express” would take you to Riga in only 16 hours.
Today, the same way will take almost three times as much! With a train change in Minsk, Belarus, you will be on the move for a total of 43 hours! An additional burden for Western Europeans is the crossing of the border to Belarus with a time-consuming VISA check and customs regulation.
The EU quickly realized this disadvantage for EU citizens when the Baltic States became a member of the European Union in 2004. This is the time when the major infrastructure project “Rail Baltica” was born:
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Picture Credit: RB Rail AS; CC BY-SA 4.0
The construction phase is planned to start in 2019. The costs of an estimated 5,58 Mrd € will be covered by the European Union (85%) and the three Baltic States (15%). The reasons why the EU is funding this project are manifold but mostly because everyone in the EU from citizen to companies will profit from this connection.
Who will benefit from this Project:
Travelers:
Shorter and more flexible traveling times
Increased traveling safety
Cost savings
City to City, Center to Center traveling
Check-in times are less complicated compared to using the plane
General public:
Development of new industries and logistic centers and economic corridors
Better connection for business, holidays, cultural activities, studies, shopping, etc
New additional infrastructure like railway station, connection roads, city transportation
Railway companyies for freight and passenger:
Profit
Logistic Companies, Freight shippers:
Advantage for a combination of transportation by rail, road and sea
Duration time of transportation
Reduce noise and pollution
Road safety
Very important for the success of the project is the freight volume. Here, the analysts expect an output of 13.0 to 19.5 million t in 2030. By 2055, 16.0 to 25.2 million t are expected. About 57% of the traffic will be transit traffic.
