Rail Baltica to cost 5.8 bln euros but to generate more: study

The total cost of Rail Baltica, a rail line to link the Baltic states and the rest of Europe, is estimated to reach 5.8 billion euros (6.3 billion U.S. dollars), according to the project's cost-benefit analysis presented here on Monday at the Rail Baltica Global Forum 2017.

But the Ernst & Young Baltic consultancy confirms in the analysis that the project is financially and economically feasible and that its benefits will significantly outweigh its costs.

The project's measurable social and economic benefits are expected to reach an estimated 16.2 billion euros, which is many times more than the financing the countries are expected to provide.

For each euro invested in the project from the national budgets the benefit will be 6 euros, the authors of the feasibility study say.

Furthermore, Rail Baltica project is expected to generate or maintain some 13,000 construction jobs and more than 24,000 jobs in related industries.

It's also expected to promote the Baltic states' business integration and increase accessibility of the entertainment, cultural and other services provided in the region.

"The new cost-benefit analysis reaffirms the project's economic feasibility and high added value," said Ilze Rassa, a spokeswoman for RB Rail, the Baltic states' joint venture for the project's implementation.

An earlier study released by AECOM in 2011 put the estimated cost of the railroad project at 3.68 billion euros.

Rail Baltica is intended to reestablish a direct railway connection between the Baltic states and the European railway network.

The project is expected to facilitate regional integration by means of a railway link from Helsinki to Tallinn, Riga, Kaunas, Warsaw and Berlin and might potentially be extended to Venice. Endit