Cooperation, EU – Baltic States, Good for Business, Lithuania, Railways

The LTG group's LTG Link and PKP's subsidiary PKP Intercity signed a letter of intent on the countries' commitment to launch a train and link the Lithuanian and Polish capitals in the second half of 2021. One-way trip on such a train would take about 8 hours.

"It would be some sort of an introduction into the Rail Baltica line. Initially, we expect to have 35,000 passengers a year ands reach the peak in passenger numbers once the European track up to Vilnius is complete," Mantas Bartuska, CEO at LTG, said in a statement.

LTG and PKP also signed an agreement to set up a joint enterprise to the transportation of indermodal cargoes. The agreement was signed by Poland's PKP Cargo and LTG Cargo's Polish subsidiary LTG Cargo Polska. The joint company is expected to be operational in the first quarter of next year.

The signing was attended by Lithuanian Prime Minister Saulius Skvernelis and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki.

Some 24 mln tons of cargoes move between Lithuania and Poland every year, and just 0.6 mln tons are carried by train, as around 1.8 mln trucks cross their border every year.