Estonian Railways halts key routes in April for major upgrades

Due to Estonian Railways' infrastructure work in April, it will not be possible on certain days to travel to Riga or Vilnius by train alone. As part of the journey must be completed by bus, Elron will not sell tickets for these trips.

Elron's Tallinn-Tartu-Riga service and the Tallinn-Tartu-Riga-Vilnius service (with a transfer in Valga) will operate at reduced capacity during the school holidays (April 13-19), as major infrastructure works mean train traffic is not possible on the Tapa-Aegviidu section (April 13-19) and the Palupera-Puka section (April 13-16). Infrastructure owner Estonian Railways is carrying out large-scale works on these sections.

Passengers will be served by bus instead of train on the Tapa-Aegviidu and Tartu-Valga sections, Elron communications manager Kristo Mäe said.

Although travel will still be possible using a combination of bus and train, Elron will not sell tickets for international journeys in such cases (i.e., when the trip includes a bus segment).

From April 13-16, the Tallinn-Tartu-Riga-Vilnius service (with a transfer in Valga) will operate only as far as Valga from the Latvian side and from April 17-19 only as far as Tartu from the Latvian side.

Direct Tallinn-Tartu-Riga train services will be suspended from April 13-16. From April 17-19, tickets will be sold in Estonia for the Tartu-Riga route and in Latvia for travel up to Tartu.

The last Tallinn-Riga service before the infrastructure works will run on April 11 and the last Riga-Tallinn service on April 12.

Regular service will resume from April 20.