Estonian rail operator GoRail has announced that it plans to temporarily suspend services between Tallinn and the Russian cities of St Petersburg and Moscow because of a substantial fall in passenger numbers.
GoRail chief executive Alar Pinsel said that the company was to suspend the services, starting will trains to St Petersburg on May 11, because of a “significant decrease of number of tourists coming from Russia”.
Pinsel said: “A difficult economic and political situation in relations between Russia and the European Union has significantly affected the number of Russian tourists visiting Estonia.
“Drop in the exchange rate of rouble also makes travel expensive for Russian people. Without doubt, functioning of the train connection is useful for Estonia as a whole, however the routes were only generating financial loss for quite a long time.”
GoRail has operated international rail services out of Tallinn since 1998.
Pinsel added: “If the situation stabilises and the number of passengers recovers, we are prepared to launch Tallinn-St. Petersburg route again.”
Services to Moscow will also be suspended once Estonia’s national rail operator, Eesti Raudtee, is in a position to take over, GoRail has said.
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