🇱🇹🇱🇻🇪🇪Baltic audit institutions launch joint review of Rail Baltica project
The supreme audit institutions of Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania have launched a joint performance audit of the Rail Baltica, assessing whether the project is being implemented efficiently and whether its objectives can be delivered within realistic timeframes.
The audit will focus on construction procurement and contract management, including cost efficiency, risk management and the availability of financing for the project’s first phase. It will also assess whether issues identified in earlier reviews — the 2019 joint audit and the 2024 situation assessment — have been adequately addressed.
The review covers the period from 2022 to mid-2026. At the regional level, auditors will examine RB Rail AS as the joint project coordinator. In Latvia, the scope includes the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Finance, Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas and Latvijas dzelzceļš. Audit results are expected in early 2027.
Context: diverging national trajectories
The audit is launched against a backdrop of sharply diverging implementation paths across the Baltic states and a rapidly expanding budget.
According to the European Court of Auditors (January 2026), the total estimated cost of Rail Baltica has risen to €23.8 billion, compared with €5.8 billion in 2017. Auditors have also concluded that completing the full corridor by 2030 is no longer feasible, with no consolidated end date for the entire line.
🇱🇹Lithuania is in the strongest position. It already operates a European-gauge rail connection from Kaunas to the Polish border, enabling practical integration into the EU rail network. By early 2026, around 114 km of the Rail Baltica route in Lithuania is under active construction, including the Kaunas–Panevėžys section and the largest rail bridge in the Baltic states (over the Neris River).
🇪🇪Estonia follows a similar backbone-first strategy. More than 70 km of mainline substructure is completed or under construction, while terminals in Ülemiste and Pärnu and a major rolling-stock depot in Rae Parish are progressing in parallel (completion target: 2028).
🇱🇻Latvia, by contrast, only announced the start of works on a core 30 km mainline section near Iecava in 2026. In previous years, construction efforts focused primarily on nodal projects — Riga Central Station and the airport terminal. While these facilities are significant for urban and aviation connectivity, their role within Rail Baltica remains indirect without a completed mainline.
Latvia has allocated €260 million for Rail Baltica in its 2026 state budget, but the later start on the core route means the Latvian section remains the most vulnerable in terms of timelines, continuity and overall corridor integrity. BSM@2026
Image: photos/photo_171@23-01-2026_22-00-38.jpg