The Russian antimonopoly service ordered to double railroad tariffs for cargoes traveling from Russia or via Belarus to Latvia, Estonia and Finland from June 1. Transit from Central Asian countries will also become more expensive.
Lithuania will not beaffectedby the price increase
The state-owned company Latvijas dzelzceļš (Latvian Railways) hides the extent of damage and the number of employees threatened with dismissal.
“If I start naming specific figures now, it will be speculation,” Latvian portal bb.lv quoted the company’s chairman of the board Artis Grinbergs as saying. – This directly affects the number of our employees, so I will refrain from estimating the scale of the consequences for now.”
In 2023-2024, the state has allocated a total of 172.65 million euros to compensate passenger transportation and losses of the company. If freight traffic declines even further, the state support may be required in larger amounts.
At the same time, the tariff increase does not apply to Lithuania. According to Latvian Prime Minister Andris Kulbergs, this creates an unfair situation:
“It actually splits us. All transit may go to Lithuania. We automatically lose interest in railway transportation. It is practically automatic sanctions against our railroad. Then the port suffers, and further down the chain – everything else.”
