Elron carries 19,000 passengers between Baltic states

More than 19,000 passengers travelled between Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on Elron trains during the first half of the year, ERR reported. More than one-third travelled between Tartu and Riga.

“Interest in travelling by train to Latvia and Lithuania, and in the opposite direction, has grown significantly,” said Kristo Mäe, Elron’s head of international business.

Mäe said the direct Tallinn Tartu Riga service launched on January 12 had driven much of the increase. Interest has also grown in the Tallinn Tartu Riga Vilnius connection, launched in January 2025. More than 16,000 passengers bought direct tickets between Estonia and Latvia or Lithuania, or in the opposite direction, last year.

Elron currently operates two international train connections daily: a direct Tallinn Tartu Riga service and a Tallinn Tartu Valga Riga Vilnius service requiring a change in Valga. An additional connecting Tallinn Tartu Valga Riga service runs from Friday to Sunday.

The number of monthly international journeys rose from about 2,000 in January to nearly 4,400 in June.

During the first half of the year, Tartu accounted for the most international journeys to Latvia and Lithuania, or in the opposite direction, with 10,825 passengers. Tallinn followed with 6,347, ahead of Elva with 371, Tapa with 207 and Jõgeva with 154.

More than 10,000 passengers bought tickets to or from Latvia and Lithuania at Valga, a border town, according to data from Elron and Vivi, the Latvian passenger train operator. The figure includes departures from Valga towards Riga operated by both companies during the first half of the year.

The busiest international route was between Tartu and Riga, with 7,500 passengers, or 38 percent of the total. Tallinn Riga followed with 3,539 passengers, or 18.1 percent, and Tallinn Vilnius with 1,012, or 5.1 percent.

The direct Tallinn Tartu Riga train was used for international journeys 8,287 times after its launch on January 12. Forty-two percent of those journeys were between Tartu and Riga, 13 percent between Tallinn and Riga, and 9 percent between Valga and Riga.

Elron began selling tickets for domestic journeys within Latvia on the direct service on March 30. More than 1,700 passengers travelled between Latvian stops from April to June. The most popular domestic routes were Riga Cesis, Riga Sigulda and Riga Valmiera.