OREANDA-NEWS. May 18, 2015. At the request of the Estonian Technical Regulatory Authority, SORAINEN, together with the Estonian Centre for Applied Research (CentAR), is analysing the effects of Rail Baltic. Under a contract entered into last week, the analysis concerns the legal possibilities for compensating the potential adverse effects of Rail Baltic construction on affected land owners and other interested parties.

According to Miiko Peris, Project Manager of the international Rail Baltic network, systemic legal analysis is necessary considering the scale of the Rail Baltic project. “The analysis needs to address which compensation system is legally available to affected land and home owners today and how related complex issues have been handled in other European countries”, says Peris. One of the purposes of the project is to involve various interest groups as the analysis must provide answers to concerns about compensation mechanisms raised by the public.

Based on the analysis, a summary opinion will be formulated about the impact of Rail Baltic construction as well as about the need for and extent of compensating that impact. The Technical Regulatory Authority is seeking to use the outcome and proposals of the analysis on acquiring land and restricting and compensating ownership rights within other major infrastructure projects.

The analysis is supported by TEN-T project No. 2007-EE-27010-S of the European Union Studies for a European gauge line for Rail Baltica.

The SORAINEN working group preparing the analysis is led by specialist counsel Urmas Volens.

Rail Baltic is an environmentally-friendly high speed rail network which will connect Estonia with the rest of Europe as well as with Latvia and Lithuania.