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Rail Baltica is one of the priority projects of the European Union: ''Trans-European Transport Networks'' (TEN-T). The project is supposed to link Finland, the Baltic States and Poland and also improve the connection between Central and Northern Europe. It envisages a continuous rail link from Tallinn (Estonia), to Warsaw (Poland), going via Riga (Latvia) and Kaunas (Lithuania). It will by-pass the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) and Hrodna (Belarus), which have historically hosted two Poland-Lithuania rail routes. The route is estimated to be completed by 2024. The section from Helsinki to Tallinn will be operated by existing commercial ferries. In the future a proposed Helsinki to Tallinn Tunnel could provide a rail link between the two cities. The length of the railway between Tallinn and Warsaw will be at least . ==Route and standard== There were two options to build the Rail Baltica. Both options included an upgrade of the existing railway (with standard gauge) to for the stretch that runs from Warsaw via Białystok and Ełk to Trakiszki,〔 followed by a new railway with standard gauge Trakiszki-Kaunas. For the remainder of the route to Tallinn two different options were considered: *Option one was to upgrade the existing railway from Joniškis via Riga and Tartu to Tallinn to 160 km/h, keeping the current Russian gauge, and a new railway Kaunas-Joniškis with 160 km/h, also at Russian Gauge. Because of the break of gauge at Kaunas, passengers would have to change trains there. For freight, a reloading facility or a bogie exchange station would be placed near Kaunas. *Option two was a new railway with speed and standard gauge from Kaunas via Joniškis to Riga, as above, but then continuing in a straighter line via Pärnu to Tallinn. In 2011 it was decided to use standard gauge, but with a slightly modified route: from Kaunas to Riga the new railway will run via Panevėžys and Bauska. A feasibility study for this option estimated the line will cost about €3.86 billion in total. Although there is an EU high-speed directive saying that new TEN-T lines should have a speed of , with only upgraded lines allowed at a lower speed of 200 km/h, it is hard to finance the project as it is, and so if the project succeeds, 200 km/h is most likely for the newly constructed line, and 160 km/h for the upgraded section which is a higher-speed rail. As there are many level crossing and 160 km/h normally is the maximum train speed over them, there would be a large cost increase for upgrading to 200 km/h. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rail Baltica」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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