Elva residents protest longer morning train journey to Tallinn

Elva residents are upset because a changed train timetable means they can no longer reach Tallinn before 10 a.m. without a 45-minute transfer in Tartu, ERR reported. Elron said the changes are linked to railway infrastructure work and that connections should improve in the coming months.

Previously, passengers could leave Elva railway station in the morning and arrive at Tallinn’s Balti Jaam station shortly after 9:30 a.m. Under the new timetable, passengers travelling from the Valga direction can no longer reach Tallinn that early.

“An unpleasant change has occurred: there is no longer a fast and direct train connection in the morning. A 45-minute transfer has been added in Tartu, which makes the journey longer,” Elva Deputy Rural Municipality Mayor Juhani Jaeger said.

With the wait in Tartu, Elva passengers now arrive in Tallinn shortly before 11 a.m. The morning train journey, which previously took about two hours and 40 minutes, has grown to nearly four hours.

“If you want to attend some kind of training, you used to be able to go in the morning. Now you would essentially have to go the previous evening,” said Piret, a mother of four. She added that school groups also used the morning train when they needed to spend a day in Tallinn.

The timetable changes are caused by an upgrade to the signalling system on the Tapa to Tartu railway route. The work has significantly reduced the line’s capacity and lowered train speeds.

Elron’s head of customer experience development, Hannes Luts, said the connection could be shortened from October 5 and possibly made faster again from November 2, leaving passengers with only a few minutes to wait in Tartu.

However, because the infrastructure work will continue until the end of the year, the morning train from Elva will not reach Tallinn by 10 a.m. this year.

“When we set these times, we have to consider the needs of the majority of passengers. On the Valga to Tartu route, most passengers travel to Tartu rather than Tallinn,” Luts said.

The first direct train from Elva without a transfer currently arrives at Balti Jaam at 2 p.m. Elron has promised faster and more frequent train services to Tallinn next year.