Austria’s Kapsch TrafficCom to install Lithuania e-toll system for €16.2m

Kapsch TrafficCom, an Austrian provider of road charging and traffic management systems, will install Lithuania's electronic road tolling system for heavy vehicles for 16.2 million euros the state road operator Via Lietuva said.

The contract, which includes VAT, was signed on Friday after the company won an international tender to lease the system.

"Our goal is for e-tolling to be fully operational in 2027, as required by law," Via Lietuva CEO Martynas Gedaminskas said.

The system will be leased for five years and is expected to provide fairer road charging while generating significant revenue for the Road Fund.

Gedaminskas added that Lithuania would become the first of the Baltic states to introduce such a system.

Lithuania’s Transport Minister, Juras Taminskas, has said the new electronic tolling system will ensure fairer charges for trucks, with fees based on the distance travelled.

Asked how toll payments by Russian or other third-country haulers transiting Lithuania would be enforced, Gedaminskas said discussions on toll control would be held in the future with Customs, border guards, police and other authorities.

Two companies participated in the tender, with Kapsch TrafficCom emerging as the winner. The company has implemented e-tolling systems across Scandinavia, Switzerland, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Bulgaria and other countries.

The Austrian company will have eight months to prepare the system for Lithuania.

Gedaminskas said the decision to lease the system was made because technology has advanced since Lithuania decided to introduce e-tolling in 2021 and because leasing is more cost-effective than developing a system from scratch.

During the five-year lease period, Via Lietuva will assess long-term options for e-tolling. Meanwhile, the operator plans to launch a public tender for leasing the system.

Lithuania has been attempting to introduce e-tolling since 2021, but repeated legal disputes have delayed the system’s launch.

Updated: Added Taminskas' comments, explained the system.