Abstract:

“Rail Baltica” is a key railroad infrastructure project in the Baltic region (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and partly Poland) of the European Union that is set to integrate the Baltics into the European rail network (part of TEN-T European initiative), enabling direct connections to Europe via the 1435mm standart gauge railroad tracks (currently all tracks in the Baltics are the Russian 1520mm standart gauge).

“Rail Baltica” is going to be a major human mobility and transportation artery for the region, enabling economic growth, as well as lately gaining large military importance in the light of the Russian invasion in Ukraine, therefore timely completion of the project is of high importance.

Current expected costs of the project are 5.8bn€, with 85% funded by the EU and 15% by the national states. Many key locations have already began construction, with many more set to begin construction in 2023 and 2024. Originally the project had a completion date of 2026, however it has been pushed back to 2028 and expected to fully finished by 2030.

Read more on the official website of the project, as well as important news regarding the project: https://www.railbaltica.org/about-rail-baltica/

And the Wikipedia page of the project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_Baltica?wprov=sfla1

Resolution Criteria:

This market resolves to YES, if it is possible for an average citizen to go from Tallin to Vilnius through Riga with high-speed train by July 1, 2030. The resolution date has small wiggle room of a couple of days (say, it would be operational on July 4), but no more then the middle of summer, July 15.

There must be trains that are capable of moving passengers on the newly built tracks. If the tracks are technicly operational (a train could use them to go from Tallin to Vilnius), but there are no passenger trains actually using the tracks, this market resolves NO.

If there is no direct train from Tallin to Vilnius, but instead, for example, you have to switch trains in Riga and only then go to Vilnius, this market still resolves to YES, on the condition that all parts of the train track use European standart gauge and are traversible by high-speed train.

This market does not consider cargo transportation. If, for example, there are cargo trains going from Tallin to Vilnius but no passenger trains, this market resolves NO.

This market does not consider the theoretically planned Helsinki-Tallin underwater tunnel, as it is not part of “Rail Baltica” (yet).

Image of the geography of “Rail Baltica” :

Resolution criteria are open to discussion in the comments.