The renovation of the transport sector over the next seven years will cost about three billion euros. Nearly 500 million euros will be provided by the European Union, and that calculation does not include the possible costs of building the Rail Baltic railroad system.

According to Eero Pärgmäe, the deputy secretary general for transport at the Ministry of Economic Affairs, too little thought has gone into transport connections when planning new residential and industrial areas in the past, and the development plan aims to address that.

The plan envisions an increase in the number of train passengers from 4.4 million in 2012 to 8.8 million in 2020.

The previous seven-year-period was heavy on investment in basic infrastructure, such as building intersections, reconstructing railroads, and buying new trains. Now, the focus is on improving connections and integrating various means of transport, such as setting up a Tallinn tram connection with Lennart Meri airport and improving train connections between Tartu and Riga and Tallinn and St. Petersburg.

Source* www.err.ee