Lithuania would like to build a fast European standard-gauge railway to link Kaunas and Klaipėda and for it to be included into the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).
Klaipėda is Lithuania's third biggest city and a port on the Baltic coast. Kaunas, in central Lithuania, is the main hub of the would-be Rail Baltica network linking the Baltic states with the rest of Europe.
Lithuanian Vice Minister of Transport Loreta Maskaliovienė attended the EU Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council in Brussels and turned to European Transport Commissioner Adina Valean over the issue, the ministry told BNS.
“For us to be able to connect the EU's Baltic coastline ports with railways and create conditions for residents and cargo to reach the rest of Europe faster, it's important to include the European standard-gauge railway to Klaipėda into the TEN-T as well,” Maskaliovienė said.
The railway from Kaišiadorys to Klaipėda is now being electrified, but it's still of the wider Russian standard-gauge. The remaining section to Vilnius has already been electrified.
The Rail Baltica European standard-gauge railway project is now being implemented and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2026. As part of the project, an electrified railway line will be built to connect Warsaw via Kaunas with Riga and Tallinn. The Kaunas-Vilnius section was included into the project earlier.
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