Rail Travel in Estonia

Below is a detailed map of the railways of Estonia. You can zoom in by using the +/- buttons or by using the wheel on your mouse whilst hovering over the map.

This map has been extracted from the Railway Map of Europe with kind permission of the publishers.
You can purchase copies of the full map, as well as rail timetables, from The European Railway Timetable website

ESTONIA

The Estonian Railways, Eesti Raudtee (see links below) is state owned, after early failed experiments with privatisation. There are no open-access operators. Journey planner is available on the website. The only international services (suspended temporarily) are the Tallinn-St Petersburg-Moskva night train service running 3 times a week at weekends only (1,6,7 return 5,6,7), and a once daily connection at Varga on frontier with Latvia where the two trains meet (cross-platform), to facilitate a rather indirect Tallinn-Riga service.
Fares are cheap, as typical for East European states. Tickets are 15% cheaper if bought on-line rather than from on-train or station staff. Most regular or frequent users purchase an “Elron” farecard (2E.50) from stations at Tallinn, Tartu or on-board trains. This also gives a 10% discount on single tickets bought on trains. Non-Estonians over 65 or registered disabled qualify for a discount on presentation of passport. No reservations can be made except on the Russian sleeper which are obligatory. Cycles can be carried on trains for half fare. No booking needed. Domestic interrail passes are available to foreigners for 3,4,5,6, or 8 days a month, with discounts for youths and those over 60.

” RAIL BALTICA“

This ambitious project (see link below) helped by the EU’s North Sea Baltic TEN-T programme, will see new and enhanced routes for rail traffic, on standard European gauge track (1,435 mm), for both passenger and freight, between Warsawa, Kaunas, plus a branch to Vilnius, and one to Kaunas Airport, then Panevezys, Riga, Parnu, Tallinn, and even later by new 50km tunnel to Helsinki in Finland. Target completion date is 2030. Passenger trains will run at up to 250kmh, freight at up to 120kmh. The section between Polish frontier to Kaunas has already been upgraded to 1,435 mm, and considerable work has already started elsewhere. Tallinn-Warsawa journey time is expected to be 6h.47 mins with up to 8 trains a day. The Heslsinki-Tallinn tunnel is not a direct part of the project

IM September 2021