The new southern part of the Riga Central Station will be almost completely ready externally by the end of this year. However, train services on the new platforms will only begin in a few years, reports the Latvian Television News Service. Today, the outlines of the future station complex are already clearly visible. About 1,500 square meters of glass structures have been installed on the facade and roof, and the main construction work on the three new platforms is nearly complete. However, building the structure alone is not enough for the station to accept trains. As explained by Guntis Aboltins-Abolins, the executive director of the Rail Baltica project at the BERERIX consortium, after the construction phase is completed, a significant amount of work directly on the railway will still need to be done. This includes the construction of tracks, installation of the contact network, signaling systems, and other necessary infrastructure, without which the operation of the new station is impossible. According to him, the main construction work is planned to be completed by the end of August, and the entire facility by the end of the year. The Ministry of Transport assures that funding for the next phase has already been secured, so after the building construction is finished, work will continue without a long pause. Until the Rail Baltica European gauge line is brought to Riga, the new platforms are planned to be used for the current railway services. As explained by Egils Feldmanis, the director of technical operations at Latvijas dzelzceļš, by mid-2028, some trains are expected to be transferred to the new southern side of the station. It is preliminarily planned that electric trains will primarily be serviced on the new platforms, while diesel trains will mostly remain on the northern side of the station. However, the final traffic scheme may still change. In the old part of the Central Station, large-scale reconstruction is not currently planned. Only necessary maintenance work will be carried out to keep the tracks and existing wooden platforms in a safe condition. The Ministry of Transport acknowledges that the future of the project largely depends on European funding. According to Kristine Pudište, the deputy state secretary of the ministry for Rail Baltica, such large infrastructure projects cannot be implemented solely through the state budget. While railway traffic on the new platforms has not yet begun, the authorities are considering the possibility of temporarily using the already completed station building for exhibitions, cultural events, and other public activities. This decision would allow for the opening of new space for residents and visitors of the city even before the trains start running. However, due to a lack of funds, some of the already constructed project facilities will have to be temporarily mothballed. These works will be financed from the state budget, and their cost is estimated to be several million euros.