The Zemitāni–Skulte Railway is a long, gauge

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

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 ...

built in the 20th century to connect

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 ...

and Rūjiena. The railway was originally part of the ''Mangaļi–Rūjiena Railway'' that opened 1937. In 1981 the line became part of the ''Riga–Tallinn Railway'', with a travel time of five hours. In 1992, the ''Riga–Tallinn Railway'' was stopped at the border with

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 ...

. The Zemitāni–Skulte Railway got its present length in 1996 after the twice weekly service to

Limbaži Limbaži (, , , ) is a town in the Vidzeme region of northern Latvia, with a population of 6,888. Limbaži is located 90 km northeast of the capital Riga. During the Middle Ages, as part of Livonia, Limbaži was a fortified town with stone wa ...

was discontinued due to the financial downturn following the collapse of the Soviet Union. The railway past Skulte was removed in 2004.

References

Railway lines in Latvia Transport in Riga Railway lines opened in 1937 5 ft gauge railways in Latvia {{Europe-rail-transport-stub