AS Eesti Raudtee (') known as Eesti Raudtee or EVR is the national railway infrastructure company of

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. It owns a network of of

broad gauge A broad-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge (the distance between the rails) broader than the used by standard-gauge railways. Broad gauge of , more known as Russian gauge, is the dominant track gauge in former Soviet Union countries ...

() railway throughout the country, including the used by the Elron

commuter train Commuter rail or suburban rail is a passenger rail service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Commuter rail systems can use locomotive-hauled tr ...

s around

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. Its sole shareholder is the

Government of Estonia The Government of the Republic of Estonia (''Estonian language, Estonian: Vabariigi Valitsus'') is the cabinet (government), cabinet of Estonia. Under the Constitution of Estonia, Constitution, it exercises executive power pursuant to the Cons ...

History

Establishment and early operations

Shortly following the Estonian Restoration of Independence, the state-owned company Eesti Raudtee was established as the national railway company of Estonia on 1 January 1992. The company's activities primarily involved the movement of rail freight, particularly that of Russian oil products to the ice-free Estonian ports on the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

; passenger services were typically provided by separate operators that ran upon Eesti Raudtee's infrastructure via a series of track access agreements.

Privatised era

By the mid-2000, it was announced that the Estonian government was seeking to privatize its railway operations. On 31 August 2001, 66 percent of the stock in the company was sold to ''Baltic Rail Services'', a consortium of Rail World (25.5%), Jarvis (25.5%), Railroad Development Corporation (5%), and ''OÜ Ganiger Invest'', led by Estonian entrepreneurs Jüri Käo and Guido Sammelselg (44%). As a result of the privatization, new management structures were promptly introduced to the company along with considerable investment aimed at instituting international best practices, amongst other goals. In 2002, Eesti Raudtee introduced a new logo along with a corporate identity during its tenth anniversary. The new logo was the two letters "E" and "R" that are colored red and are merged to each other to symbolize the company's name. Following an election in 2003, the Estonian government changed the rules on open access rights and capped the level of track access charges that could be imposed, which negatively impacted Eesti Raudtee's commercial viability, causing relations between Baltic Rail Services and the state to sour. In July 2005, Baltic Rail Services issued a notice of dispute to the Estonian government that claimed there had been a breach of bilateral investment treaties. By April 2006, the dispute between the two parties had escalated to the highest levels and the potential sale of the stake in Eesti Raudtee was mooted.

Renationalisation and restructuring in compliance with EU legislation

In January 2007, Eesti Raudtee was effectively renationalized by the Estonian government, ending Baltic Rail Services' involvement. During 2009, two new EVR wholly-owned subsidiaries were formed: ''EVR Infra'', responsible for managing the railway infrastructure, and ''EVR Cargo'', which took over the parent company's freight operations. This reorganisation was reportedly to comply with

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

legislation. In 2012, freight operator AS EVR Cargo (renamed Operail in 2018) was separated from Eesti Raudtee; around the same time, EVR Infra was renamed Eesti Raudtee.

Infrastructure investments and modernisation

The late 2010s and early 2020s were marked by a series of investments in Estonia's railway infrastructure. In December 2017, work was completed on the modernization of 57km of the key Tapa –

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

line, facilitating passenger trains to be run at a maximum speed of 120 km/h, while freight trains were also permitted to move at up to 80 km/h. Between 2018 and 2021, the Lääne – Harju line running west from

was re-signalled by Mipro. In July 2020, the launch of a decade-long investment program, aimed at raising quality and safety levels, was announced. During December 2020, a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

of Spanish engineering companies Ardanuy Ingeneria and Ayesa Ingenieria y Arquitectura were awarded a €3.7m contract to produce the technical requirements and preliminary designs of an 25 kV 50 Hz electrification programme covering almost the entirety of Estonia's unelectrified railway network. Regional cooperation In May 2018, the company, together with the railway companies of

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

, signed an agreement to jointly establish the ''Amber Train'' freight transportation route from

Šeštokai Šeštokai is a small town in southern Lithuania. Infrastructure The town is a transport hub as it hosts Šeštokai Intermodal freight transport, Intermodal Terminal and has dual gauge track as well as break-of-gauge for the Standard gauge, 143 ...

through

Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...

to Tallinn. As one part of this initiative, a new multimodal freight terminal directly connected to Muuga Harbour was constructed, facilitating the transshipping of goods between the sea and the Estonian railway network. On 13 September 2022, the first Amber Train service departed Muuga for the Kaunas terminal; goods from the terminal will also be transported to Muuga on the return journey, the majority of which will be sent onwards to Finland.

References

External links

{{Coord, 59.438521, N, 24.734393, E, type:landmark_region:EE, display=title Estonian brands Railway companies established in 1992 Railway companies of Estonia Railway infrastructure managers Companies based in Tallinn 1992 establishments in Estonia Government-owned companies of Estonia