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GoRail is a rail freight operator in Estonia,[1] and also offers related training services.[2] Until commencing offering freight services in 2019 it was a passenger service operator,[3] and until 2020[4] it operated the only direct international passenger rail services from Estonia (however it is possible to travel to Riga in Latvia by changing from Elron services to Valga onto Pasažieru vilciens services).[5]
History
editThe company previously operated under the name EVR Ekspress as a division of the state railway, Eesti Raudtee. It was partially privatised on 1 April 1999, with a 51% majority share going to the Fraser Group and 49% retained by Eesti Raudtee.[6] The company was renamed GoRail in 2006 when it was sold to the Go Group, which operates various other travel services in Estonia, including Tallinn's main Baltic Station.
Tallinn - St Petersburg and Moscow rail services
editGoRail previously ran a number of variants of services from the Baltic station in Tallinn to St Petersburg and / or Moscow, in partnership with Russian Railways, which were cancelled and re-introduced a number of times.[citation needed]
GoRail ran a daily daytime service from Tallinn Baltic station to St Petersburg, leaving Tallinn early in the morning and arriving in St Petersburg mid-afternoon, with a return service leaving in the early evening and arriving in Tallinn in the late evening.
After a break from 2004 services commenced during 2007.[7][8] During this time, on 8 May 2007, Russian Railways announced that the route would be cancelled with effect from 29 May [9] ostensibly due to low passenger numbers, but shortly after the Bronze Night protests in Tallinn. GO Rail CEO Alar Pinsel described the Russian reasoning as "difficult to believe".[10] The cancellation was retracted a day later,[11] and the train service was never actually interrupted. GoRail announced the cancellation of the service in July 2008, citing high infrastructure and fuel costs as reasons.[12]
Services then ran again, continuing to Moscow, from 2012 until they ended in 2020 at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.[4][13]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Kaubavedu – Go Rail". gorail.ee. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
- ^ "Koolituskeskus – Go Rail". gorail.ee. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
- ^ "Meist – Go Rail". gorail.ee. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
- ^ a b "Tallinn-Peterburi-Moskva rongi väljumised on ajutiselt peatatud!". gorail.ee. Retrieved 19 March 2024.
- ^ "Sõiduplaanid | Edelaraudtee". Archived from the original on 8 June 2013. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- ^ "AS GoRail (Estonia)", Jane's World Railways. Retrieved: 29 May 2008.
- ^ "Railway Operators in Estonia : GoRail", railfaneurope.net Retrieved: 29 May 2008.
- ^ "Tallinn-St. Petersburg line open again on 31st March", Eesti Päevalehel newspaper, 22 March 2007. Retrieved: 29 May 2008. (in Estonian)
- ^ "Russian Railways to end Tallinn-St. Petersburg service"[permanent dead link], Latvian Railways documentation centre, 8 May 2007. Retrieved: 29 May 2008.
- ^ "New Petersburg-Tallinn Train Link Cancelled", St. Petersburg Times, 11 May 2007. - Retrieved: 29 May 2008.
- ^ "RZD denies claim of St Petersburg-Tallinn rail service closure", balticbusinessnews.com, 9 May 2007. Retrieved: 29 May 2008.
- ^ International passenger rail operator struggles to survivebalticbusinessnews.com Archived 16 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ One train three capitals! Go Rail transports passengers on international passenger train line Tallinn-St.Petersburg-Moscow www.gorail.ee, accessed 30 May 2020
External links
edit- Official website
- GoRail timetable (in Estonian)
- Go Group corporate site www.gogroup.ee
- GoRail locomotives Archived 2 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine www.railfaneurope.net
- St. Petersburg Times tourism feature on Tallinn, mentioning GoRail