Estonian Railways Elron has received a Unified Safety Certificate from the EU Railway Agency, which gives it the right to provide passenger services on Latvian railways. This is a temporary document issued for five years and is required for international transportation within the European Union.
In order to launch the Tartu-Riga train, the company also needs to obtain separate certification for the Stadler FLIRT rolling stock for operation in Latvia. The Latvian Railway Technical Inspectorate, the European Railway Agency, the Estonian Consumer Protection and Technical Supervision Authority, as well as specialized certification and maintenance companies are participating in this process. Testing of the two-car Stadler FLIRT took place in February on the Valga-Riga section.
Since January 6, 2024, passenger service has already been operating on the Tallinn-Tartu-Valga-Riga-Vilnius route with two transfers. It is serviced by Elron (on the Tallinn-Valga section), the Latvian company Vivi (Valga-Riga) and the Lithuanian operator LTG Link (Riga-Vilnius).