The Riga Airport train to the city centre just got its money: €264 million.
Shuttle trains, both directions, RIX to Central Station. Target for the works: the end of 2029.
Latvijas dzelzceļš (Latvian Railways, LDz) signed the EU funds agreement with the Central Finance and Contracts Agency on 27 August to build a rail link between Riga Airport and Riga Central Station, the company announced on 16 October. All work is due by 31 December 2029.
Key facts
- Total: €264.18M (€224.55M EU Cohesion Fund, €39.63M state budget)
- New 1520 mm branch from the Rail Baltica airport station to Imanta
- Upgrades on Imanta–Central Station and Central Station–Ogre
- Shuttle trains running both ways between the airport and the centre
- Deadline for the works: 31 December 2029
How will the Riga Airport train work?
Trains start at the new Rail Baltica station at the airport, run down a fresh branch to Imanta, then take the existing line into Central Station.
The catch: it runs on Latvia’s old 1520 mm track, not the 1435 mm European gauge of the Rail Baltica main line. LDz says a link to the main line comes later. Until then, as LSM points out, anyone riding Rail Baltica from Tallinn or Vilnius would have to change trains to reach the airport.
Who builds what?
LDz gets €130.9M for the Imanta branch, the line upgrades out to Ogre, and new overhead wires, signalling and tracks at Central Station, joining its north and south sides.
Eiropas Dzelzceļa līnijas (EDzL), Latvia’s Rail Baltica partner, gets €133.3M for the airport station building, the embankment from the Mazā Gramzdas iela area to the Kārļa Ulmaņa gatve overpass, and the overpass and works on to Zolitūdes iela.
LDz also pitches it as defence infrastructure: better military mobility from the airport through the centre to Ogre.
Right now, getting in from RIX means bus 22, a taxi, or the N22 at night.
Three more winters on the 22. Then, if the dates hold, a train.
Photo: Rail Baltica station under construction at Riga Airport — Cirkulis11 / Wikimedia Commons, CC0.
