GoRail is a rail freight operator in
Estonia
Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...
, and also offers related training services. Until commencing offering freight services in 2019 it was a passenger service operator, and until 2020
it operated the only direct international passenger rail services from Estonia (however it is possible to travel to
Riga
Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
in
Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
by changing from
Elron services to
Valga onto
Pasažieru vilciens services).
History
The company previously operated under the name EVR Ekspress as a division of the state railway,
Eesti Raudtee. It was partially privatised on 1 April 1999, with a 51% majority share going to the Fraser Group and 49% retained by Eesti Raudtee. The company was renamed GoRail in 2006 when it was sold to the Go Group, which operates various other travel services in Estonia, including Tallinn's main
Baltic Station.
Tallinn - St Petersburg and Moscow rail services
GoRail previously ran a number of variants of services from the
Baltic station in
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
to
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and / or
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
, in partnership with
Russian Railways, which were cancelled and re-introduced a number of times.
GoRail ran a daily daytime service from
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
Baltic station to
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, leaving
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
early in the morning and arriving in
St Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
mid-afternoon, with a return service leaving in the early evening and arriving in
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...
in the late evening.
After a break from 2004 services commenced during 2007. During this time, on 8 May 2007,
Russian Railways announced that the route would be cancelled with effect from 29 May ostensibly due to low passenger numbers, but shortly after the
Bronze Night protests in Tallinn. GO Rail
CEO Alar Pinsel described the Russian reasoning as "difficult to believe". The cancellation was retracted a day later, and the train service was never actually interrupted. GoRail announced the cancellation of the service in July 2008, citing high infrastructure and
fuel costs as reasons.
Services then ran again, continuing to Moscow, from 2012 until they ended in 2020 at the beginning of the
coronavirus pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
''www.gorail.ee'', accessed 30 May 2020
See also
* Rail transport in Estonia
* Oktyabrskaya Railway
References
External links
*
GoRail timetable
Go Group corporate site
''www.gogroup.ee''
''www.railfaneurope.net''
St. Petersburg Times tourism feature on Tallinn, mentioning GoRail
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gorail
Railway companies of Estonia
Railway companies of Russia