Lithuania’s Transport Minister, Eugenijus Sabutis said he will not seek European Union funding for the planned extension of the high-speed Rail Baltica railway section to Vilnius, citing a lack of readiness from the EU to finance this part of the project.
The national budget also lacks the necessary funds to build European-gauge railway between Kaunas and Vilnius, the minister told TV3 News on Thursday.
“If we were to do it on a full scale, the cost could reach nearly four billion euros. That is an enormous amount of money – and right now, neither we nor the EU are ready to commit that kind of funding to this particular project,” Sabutis told the broadcaster.
The transport minister added that the Lithuanian government must take the initiative to finance the project, but now is not the time. The main focus remains on the connection from Tallinn to Warsaw via Kaunas.
Kaunas, Lithuania’s second-largest city, sits on the main Rail Baltica route, while Vilnius is currently connected via a conventional rail line. Sabutis argued that the existing infrastructure is sufficient for now.
“Replacing it with a European-gauge line will definitely be necessary sooner or later, but probably not sooner,” said Sabutis.
Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas told TV3 News the decision amounts to “a major betrayal and a turning away from Vilnius”.
In late May, the transport ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia signed a joint declaration to negotiate together for long-term EU funding and additional financial sources to accelerate the construction of Rail Baltica, reported BNS. The Baltic states consider the railway vital to economic integration and regional security.
Sabutis has previously said that the Lithuanian government is considering borrowing for the project, with the expectation that the loan would be repaid using future EU funding.
In February this year, Arenijus Jackus, head of Rail Baltica Statyba – a subsidiary of state-owned Lithuanian Railways, LTG – told BNS that the Vilnius-Kaunas section would not be completed by 2030, the year Lithuania aims to finish construction of its main line.
At the time, Jackus said the timeline could be accelerated with private sector involvement and the temporary use of variable-gauge infrastructure.
In a joint report published last June, auditors from the Baltic states warned that an additional €10 to 19 billion could be needed to complete the planned works across the three countries, with €8.7 billion required in Lithuania alone.
Currently, the entire Rail Baltica project is short of around €11 billion, said Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas, reported BNS.
According to LTG Infra, Lithuania has secured €1.6 billion in funding for the Rail Baltica project so far, of which €289.6 million has already been used, including €250.5 million for construction work.
Once completed, Rail Baltica will stretch over 870 kilometres through the Baltic states and link them to the broader European rail network. The line is set to connect Tallinn, Pärnu, Riga, Panevėžys, Kaunas, Vilnius, and Warsaw, with operations scheduled to begin by 2030. The link between Lithuania and Poland is expected to be operational by 2028.
In Lithuania alone, the Rail Baltica route is planned to stretch 392 kilometres.
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