Transport in Latvia

This article provides an overview of the transport infrastructure of Latvia.

Road system
A10 near Rīga
A7 near Iecava
A9 near Skrunda

It is mandatory to keep headlights on while driving, even in daylight; most cars commercially sold in Latvia are equipped to make this automatic.

Highways
See also: List of National Roads in Latvia
Number E-road Route Length (km)
A1 E67 Rīga - Ainaži (EE border) 101
A2 E77 Rīga - Sigulda - Veclaicene (EE border) 196
A3 E264 Inčukalns - Valmiera - Valka (EE border) 101
A4 E67 E77 Rīga ring road (Baltezers - Saulkalne) 20
A5 E67 E77 Rīga ring road (Salaspils - Babīte) 40
A6 E22 E262 Rīga - Daugavpils - Krāslava - Pāternieki (BY border) 307
A7 E67 Rīga - Bauska - Grenctāle (LT border) 85
A8 E77 Rīga - Jelgava - Meitene (LT border) 76
A9 Rīga - Skulte - Liepāja 199
A10 E22 Rīga - Ventspils 190
A11 Liepāja - Rucava (LT border) 57
A12 E22 E262 Jēkabpils - Rēzekne - Ludza - Terehova (RU border) 166
A13 E262 Grebņeva (RU border) - Rēzekne - Daugavpils - Medumi (LT border) 163
A14 E262 Daugavpils ring road (Tilti - Kalkūne) 15
A15 E262 Rēzekne ring road 7

Length of the road system
Roads Paved, km Unpaved, km Total, km
State-owned roads
Highways (A) 1651.1 - 1651.1
Regional roads (P) 4189.9 1127.5 5317.4
Local roads (V) 2616.7 10533.4 13150.1
Municipality-owned roads
Roads 1055.6 29593.5 30649.1
Streets 4588.2 3446.4 8034.6
Other roads
Forest roads - 10142 10142
Private house roads 500 3000 3500
Total 14601.5 57842.8 72444.3

Railways
Jelgava railway station
One of RVR ER2T trainsets operated by Pasažieru Vilciens
Main article: Rail transport in Latvia
See also: Latvijas dzelzceļš

Latvian Railways is the main state-owned railway company in Latvia. Its daughter companies both carry out passengers services as well as carry a large quantity of freight cargo, and freight trains operate over the whole current passenger network, and a number of lines currently closed to passenger services.

There is also a narrow gauge railway between Gulbene and Aluksne, operated by the Industrial Heritage Trust, using Russian and Polish built heritage rolling stock. Three narrow gauge trains a day operate on the 33 km route between the two towns.


total: 2,347 km
Russian gauge: 2,314 km 1,520 mm (4 ft 11 27⁄32 in) gauge (270 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 33 km 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge (2002)

Passenger Train
Main article: Pasažieru Vilciens

Pasažieru Vilciens is a daughter company of Latvian Railways and the only passenger-carrying company in Latvia.

Domestic passenger lines with current service are:

Airports
Main article: List of airports in Latvia
airBaltic Boeing 757−200WL take-off at Riga International Airport

Riga International Airport is the only major airport in Latvia, carrying around 5 million passengers annually. It is the largest airport in the Baltic states and has direct flights to over 80 destinations in 30 countries. It is also the main hub of airBaltic.

In the recent years airBaltic also operated from Liepāja International Airport as well as Ventspils International Airport but operations in both of these airports were ceased until 2017, when airBaltic relaunched flights from Riga to Liepaja.

Currently there are plans for further development in several regional airports, including Jūrmala Airport, Liepāja, Ventspils as well as Daugavpils International Airport.

Airfields

As of 2003, there were a total of 51 airfields in Latvia, with 27 of them having paved runways.

Airports - with paved runways total: 27
2,438 to 3,047 m: 7
1,524 to 2,437 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 2
under 914 m: 16 (2003)

Airports - with unpaved runways total: 24
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,523 to 2,438 m: 2
914 to 1,523 m: 1
under 914 m: 20 (2003)

Ports and harbors
Port of Ventspils is the busiest port in the Baltic states
Riga Passenger Terminal

Key ports are located in Riga (Freeport of Riga and Riga Passenger Terminal), Ventspils (Free port of Ventspils), and Liepāja (Port of Liepāja). Most transit traffic uses these and half the cargo is crude oil and oil products.[1]

Waterways

300 km (perennially navigable)

Pipelines

crude oil 412 km; refined products 421 km; natural gas 1,097 km (2003)

Merchant marine


total: 11 ships (with a volume of 1,000 gross tonnage (GT) or over) totaling 53,153 GT/37,414 tonnes deadweight (DWT)
note: includes some foreign-owned ships registered here as a flag of convenience: Germany 1, Greece 1, Ukraine 1 (2002 est.)
ships by type: cargo ship 6, petroleum tanker 1, refrigerated cargo 2, roll-on/roll-off ship 1, short-sea/passenger 1

References
  1. Latvia, World Bank
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