Rail Baltica in Latvia will not be implemented by 2030, believes former Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens. According to him, the country needs to stop wearing "rose-colored glasses" and decide which option for the railway it can truly afford. In the matter of Rail Baltica, Latvia needs to take off the "rose-colored glasses," or the "glasses of [former Minister of Transport Kaspars] Briškens (P)," and realistically assess what the state can actually build. This was stated by former Minister of Finance Arvils Ašeradens in the LETA agency podcast "Politiķi! Kas tas vispār bija?!". "I can already say today that this project will not be implemented by 2030. There is no doubt about that," Ašeradens stated. In his opinion, Latvia should negotiate with Estonia and Lithuania on a minimal version of Rail Baltica that the countries can actually finance and implement. The politician allows that in order to reduce costs, the initially planned train speed should also be reconsidered. "I think that 180 kilometers per hour for the Baltic railway would be a very good solution," Ašeradens said. According to him, the higher the planned train speed, the more expensive the construction of the corresponding infrastructure. ## ## When it became clear how much the cost of the project had increased Ašeradens recounted that while serving as Minister of Finance, he first realized the scale of the financial problems of Rail Baltica after a visit from then-Minister of Transport Jānis Vitenbergs. "He came to me and said: you know, something is wrong with the expenses here, we need five billion. At that moment, I, as Minister of Finance, at least understood that the situation was already quite bad," the politician said. According to Ašeradens, the previously approved government estimate for the Latvian part of the project was about 1.7 billion euros. However, he claims that the ministers did not provide the government with complete information about the rising costs of the project. Ašeradens suggests that some transport ministers may have concealed the true extent of the rising costs of Rail Baltica in order for the project to continue. In this context, he mentioned former Minister of Transport Talis Linkaits and expressed suspicion that information may have been suppressed later as well. ## ## "In its current form, Latvia cannot afford this" The former Minister of Finance emphasized that at the current level of expenses, Latvia cannot afford Rail Baltica. However, Ašeradens does not suggest completely abandoning the project. In his opinion, connecting Latvia to the European railway system serves the interests of the country's security and further development. He believes that there are currently essentially two scenarios - to stop the project or to continue it while significantly reducing costs. Ašeradens advocates for the second option. When asked when the residents of Latvia will realistically be able to start using the new railway line, the politician did not specify a timeframe. "I think that in a year, this question can already be answered," he said.
