Lithuania - Older General Information
Introduction
This document acts as an archive for Recent and Future Changes prior to December 2020.
Changes in 2020
The passenger service between Turmantas and Daugavpils (Latvia) was suspended in March.
The Reņge - Mažeikiai (LG) freight only cross border line reopened on 15 February.
Changes in 2019
None known
Changes in 2018
Passenger services were reinstated between (Vilnius -) Oro Uostas (Vilnius airport) and Jašiūnai on 9 December.
Klaipēda - Šilutė was reopened to passenger traffic on 1 October.
Turmantas - Daugavpils (Latvia) reopened to passengers on 4 April, with a weekends-only service.
Changes in 2017
Electrification across the border from Kena into Belarus was completed in the autumn and a through electric passenger service commenced on 10 December, later withdrawn due to Belarus links with Russia.
Standard gauge passenger services started calling at Šeštokai on 6 October.
The Vilnius - Varėna service had been extended back to Marcinkonys by mid March.
Changes in 2016
After some false starts, passenger services were introduced over the standard gauge (1435 mm) Rail Baltica line between Šeštokai and Kaunas on 17 June 2016. These comprised Białystok – Kaunas trains operated by Polish diesel units: two trains each way on Saturdays and Sundays, with a northbound train on Fridays and a southbound train on Mondays. The separate 1435 mm gauge track runs alongside the existing broad gauge route between Šeštokai and Kaunas, in contrast to the original plans for a partly new route. An unexpected consequence was that no LG passenger service resumed south of Marijampole . At Šeštokai there is now only a platform on one of the new standard gauge tracks, relocated from their previous location.
The Vilnius - Marcinkonys service was cut back to Varėna at an unknown date between December 2015 and November 2016.
Changes in 2015
Passenger services over the border crossing between Stasylos and Benjakonī (Belarus) were reintroduced on 6 June, with one train each way between Grodno/Гродна and Vilnius at weekends only, but this withdrawn after 8 November.
The passenger service between Turmantas and Daugavpils (Latvia) ceased at the end of May, when the Vilnius - Sankt Peterburg (Russia) train was withdrawn.
Services beyond Jašiūnai to Stasylos via Oro Uostas and the alternative route via the Vaidotal freight yards were withdrawn on 1 January.
Changes in 2013
The last broad gauge passenger trains between Marijampole and Šeštokai ran ran on 28 September.
Changes in 2011
On 3 August services to Stasylos were extended 4.2 km southwards to a new station 1.3 km north of the former Šalčininkai halt and 5.5 km from the Belarus border on the line to Ліда/Lida. This new station took the name Stasylos, the old station being renamed Senosios Stasylos.
Passenger traffic between Klaipēda and Šilutė was discontinued from 29 May
Changes in 2008
Services between Stasylos and Benjakonī (Belarus) ceased on 19 September when the summer-only Vilnius - Simferopol’ train pair ended.
Changes in 2001 and earlier
Through Vilnius - Druskininkai LG trains and the Vilnius - Warszawa overnight service via Parėččė (Belarus) ceased in 2001, resulting in withdrawal of all trains south of Marcinkonys.
Regular services over the Panevėžys - Anykščiai narrow gauge line ceased from 25 March 2001. It remains in use as a heritage railway.
Since late 1998 the following lines have lost their passenger service:
- Jonaitiškai – Kutiškiai
- [Šiauliai -] Mankiškai - Jonaitiškai - Tauragė - Pagėgiai - Šilutė - Klaipēda (Klaipēda - Šilutė subsequently reopened closed and re-opened again)
- Švenčionėliai - Utena
- Šeštokai - Alytus
- [Klaipēda -] Kretinga - Skuodas
- [Vilnius -] Paneriai - Valičiūniai (part subsequently reopened)
