The European-gauge railway connection between Vilnius and the Rail Baltica route will be constructed only after 2030, once the main line is completed, Ministry of Transport and Communications confirmed on Thursday.
Until then, a variable gauge system – allowing trains to switch between standard European and broad gauges – could be used to connect the capital with Kaunas, Lithuania's second-largest city that sits on the main Rail Baltica route.
Rail Baltica is a major EU infrastructure project aimed at connecting the Baltic States – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – to the European rail network. The railway is planned to run from Tallinn through Pärnu, Riga, Panevėžys and Kaunas to Warsaw.
Transport and Communications Minister Eugenijus Sabutis said the Vilnius extension will be built as soon as possible once the necessary funding is secured.
"The first stage ensures Lithuania's connection to Western Europe via Kaunas, while the second stage provides for the extension of the European-gauge track to Vilnius. I can assure you that Vilnius is an integral part of Rail Baltica but it will be implemented after 2030 once the main line is completed," he said in a statement.
So far, Lithuania has secured €1.6 billion in funding for Rail Baltica-related infrastructure works through 2030, but it is seeking an additional €4 billion to complete the project.
Construction is currently underway on a 46.3-kilometre section between Kaunas and Panevėžys, with plans to expand works to cover 114 kilometres by the end of this year.
In early June, Minister Sabutis told TV3 that Lithuania would not seek EU funding for the Vilnius leg, as the European Commission was unwilling to finance this part of the project.
He added that Lithuania's state budget currently lacks the funds needed to cover the cost of the Kaunas–Vilnius connection.
A 2024 joint audit by the three Baltic states estimated that an additional €10–19 billion would be required to fully implement the Rail Baltica project, with €8.7 billion needed in Lithuania alone.
Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has said that the entire Rail Baltica project is currently short of about 11 billion euros.
The full project is expected to be completed by 2030, with the Lithuania–Poland link scheduled for 2028.
In Lithuania, the route will span 392 kilometres.
Updated: minor stylistic changes.
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