July 2011, № 4(9) (special edition) ISSN 2029-4212 RAIL

Newspaper for the transport professionalS

JSC “Lithuanian Railways”

We’ll take care of your cargo! bfl 2 RAIL Twenty Years of Nonstop Traffic This year AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ (JSC „Lithuanian Railways“) celebrates its 20th anniversary. The general manager of the company, Mr Stasys Dailydka tells about its achievements.

The numbers are impressive but the con- us–Klaipeda–Vilnius. We plan to sign the deal crete people behind them are the most impor- with producers by the end of the year and to tant ones. One cannot feel but happy about launch two advanced, safe and comfortable the detachment of young specialists grown in for passengers self – driven trains by 2014. The the last years, I would call them our „gold fund“. trip from Vilnius to Klaipeda will be much more It is a guarantee of success for the future. We comfortable and faster on the new trains. have a lot of gifted and determined people - Another interesting project is the imple- every year more than 40% of the employees mentation of GSM-R. This is a new step in con- take part in various training programmes and trol of train traffic, which allows more effec- raise their qualifications tive conduction of everyday work – train car We invest not only into “iron“ but also into assignment, manoeuvring, track repairs and the mind. other works. GSM-R is one of the most mod- For a long time most of the investments ern means of communication; so far the com- were directed towards railroads infrastructure panies of other countries only debate on the but were also needed for other spheres, espe- subject of using it in particular routes. Not only cially modernisation of traction rolling – stocks. do we overtake our neighbours in this sphere The old locomotives were falling out of line. but we are also ahead of many other Western In the Lithuanian railroads development pro- European countries in this sphere. gramme aimed till 2015, which was prepared There is also interesting work lying ahead. in 1999, 2001 was marked as the year when The first one is electrification.T he first phase usage of the new traction rolling – stocks was – state border with Belarus to Naujoji Vilnia supposed to start. However, it did not happen, – is not far. Another one is a railroad that al- we were late and in 2001 we did not have a sin- lows movement of up to 160 km/h. First be- gle new locomotive. The first „Siemens“ loco- tween Vilnius and Kaunas, then other routes. motive „ER 20 CF“ reached Lithuania by 2007. It is planned to strengthen the upper part of The decision to modernise the rolling – stocks the track, dig up 50 – 60 cm of the railway bed we had at hand saved us. Modernising helped and form a new one. However, we will have not us to survive and the specialists of locomotive only to reconstruct the track itself, but also re- depots are worth the highest praise. new the contact network, signal system and Modernising the manoeuvre locomotives so on. Similar work has been done on Esto- park is a very important decision. Right now nian railroads after it was decided to acquire we have over 20 modernised manoeuvre loco- heavyweight American made locomotives, motives, which, to be precise, were produced while we have to strengthen the railway bed in the secondary company of AB „Lietuvos because we want our passenger trains to drive gelezinkeliai“, called „Vilniaus lokomotyvų re- faster. The difficult part is that we have no de- monto depas“ („Vilnius Locomotive Repair De- veloped railway network to direct the freight pot“). Production of modern, computerised, trains to. This means that the project, just like energy effective manoeuvre locomotives in other ones, will have to be implemented with- Lithuania is an extraordinary achievement. out stopping the railroad traffic. All the projects that were or are still be- In order to keep our circle of customers, we ing implemented during the last year, share a must work in a professional manner and treat strong connection. The most important work our customers business- like manner. That is in the field of information technology is cre- what we are doing. We do not wait for trou- ation of the data sharing network, construc- ble to overwhelm us but try to stay ahead of andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus tion and implementation of the cargo ac- it by saving energy and applying it to where it counting system and strengthening of securi- is needed most. We often meet our customers, ty of the company’s info database. By modern- for example this month we arranged meetings he biggest joy about the 20th anniver- be wrong in saying that this was one of the first ising the global data sharing network we are with grain grower association, scrap – metal „T sary of Lithuanian railroads comes from loans to the development of the economy of able to assure a speedy and reserved sharing buyers, quarry association. We are always on the fact that the company runs stable“, says S. our country. It was used to modernise partic- of data, use safe access to a centralised info da- a lookout for new customers, presenting our Dailydka - „even after the onslaught of finan- ular segments of the international corridors – tabase of the company and avoid using third company in international transportation con- cial crisis we managed to keep the stability and we needed to buy tracks sleepers, road metal party data sharing services in the railroad sta- ferences and forums, where we propose our not to suffer great losses when transportations and road vehicles „Plasser and Theuser“. We fin- tions. We have specialized information sys- services and capabilities dropped. AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“– is not ished paying back the loan in 2009“, told us S. tems, like STOKIS (computerised station info We keep communicating with our col- what it was ten years ago, when the company Dailydka system), OPKIS (effective transportation com- leagues from neighbouring countries. For ex- was sensitive to any economic changes, used According to him, despite that the compa- puter info system), „Krovinys“ (cargo transfer- ample on the 14th of July we invited heads of outdate technologies and lived from inertion. ny does not have a very precise accounting of ring accounting system) and we use mySAP railway freight transportation companies de- Everything changed – there is a new order, at- investments made between 1992 – 1994, the for financial accounting and business manage- partments from Belarus, Estonia, Latvia and mosphere and discipline at the railroads and total investments received since the railroads ment, which is one of the most modern sys- Ukraine to discuss common freight rolling the railroad men became good – willed“, says started existing independently, were around tems in the World of this kind. stock usage on international routes. I must S. Dailydka, who reminds that during that pe- 5 billion Litas, with 3 billion of those dedicat- I would like to point out modernization of imply that it is a question of highest priority riod a lot of attention has been paid to assure ed to railroad infrastructure. Every year ex- Vaidotu railroad station as one of our greatest when organising freight transportation. stable functioning. The most important thing cept 2000 – 2001 investments were growing, projects. It used to be a huge transfer station, We have long traditions of good relations is that both attention and means were equal- while 2008 was when most investments were urgently constructed during the Soviet times. with Belarus railroad men – 20% of freights ly shared between the railroad infrastructure, received, with investment work done amount- Now, after a reconstruction that lasted 3 years, transported through Lithuania by AB „Lietuvos rolling – stocks and organisation of both pas- ing to 954,7 million Litas and investments used the cargo there is transferred using computer gelezinkeliai come from Belarus. Byelorussians senger and freight transport. - 779,8 million Litas. It is interesting to com- programmes. Work in the station goes much are especially keen on widening their exports In 1994 the government passed the first pare that to 1995, when 79,9 million Litas was more effectively and it has become safer. lately and that gives us high hopes. During our National Transport Development Programme used for investments, nearly 10 times less than Another very important project is recon- last meeting with Belarus railroads managers in our country. In the part dedicated to rail- in 2008. struction of the Kaunas railroad tunnel. We we discussed possibilities of the intermodu- road transport, attention was concentrated The support provided by the European Un- saved and put new life into the only building lar train „Merkurijus“. It would cover the route on bringing I and IX international corridors to ion had a huge influence on growing of invest- of such kind in the Baltic States. According to between Kaliningrad and Klaipeda ports and order. In the same year the European Recon- ments. Alone during 2004–2006, 592 million. Danish railroad specialists, who investigated Moscow logistics centres. Intermodular trans- struction and Development Bank loaned 54 Litas were provided, while the total value of the state of the tunnel, if nothing had been portation development is a priority sphere not million USD in the name of the state to mod- projects implemented with EU support is 1,2 done, the railroad traffic through the Kaunas only for Lithuania but also many other coun- ernise Lithuanian railroads. „I do not think I will billion Litas railroad tunnel should have been stopped and tries. Business enterprises are very interested itself filled with earth. in it, while worldwide container transport rises Even before reopening the tunnel we ac- by some 10% every year. Today Lithuania has a strong national transporter inside the European quired double decked electrical trains for Vilni- The economic development of the World us – Kaunas – Vilnius route. The number of pas- in general and Europe looks good. Creation Union – AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“, which is a guarantee of excelling sengers, especially after reopening of the tun- of “Rail Baltica“ public logistics centres will be in quality of transportation and railroad transport development. The nel has swelled. The route Vilnius–Klaipeda– a strong impulse to attract additional freight company has taken a strong hold in national and international transport Vilnius is also very important to us. The time currents and stabilize some or more transpor- has come to acquire new trains to serve this it. tation directions. We should feel the benefits services market and businessmen look upon it as an example of stability, Just recently we announced a new tender to of those projects by 2015. Plans to reconstruct profitability and good management. buy new trains. They will serve the route Vilni- port of Klaipeda also give good hopes. RAIL 3 JSC „Lithuanian Railways“ – a well-chosen direction During the first half of 2011, JSC „Lithuanian Railways“ transported 26.2 million tones cargoes - a 14 percent increase compared to the same period in 2010. The company is operating successfully despite sharp competition in the transport markets.

s the Lithuanian economy is recovering, gistics centre developers including “Logistik- Athe transport sector is recovering faster Netz Berlin-Brandenburg” (Germany) and “In- than any other economy branch of the country. terporto Bologna SpA” (Italy), have many times Therefore, Lithuanian Railways are planning to experienced that the benefits of public logis- continue increasing the volume of cargo trans- tics centres is related not only to income and portation, expanding the customer base, pro- creation of new jobs but also the transporta- viding a wider range of services most needed to tion of cargoes by more ecological and eco- their clients and creating new logistics chains. nomical vehicles. According to S. Gudvalis, in- According to Stasys Gudvalis, the Deputy termodal transportation is one of the most ef- Chief Executive Officer of JSC Lithuanian Rail- fective cargo transportation methods, and ways and the director of the Cargo Transporta- public logistics centres are a necessary pre- tion Directorate, in order to pursue these stra- condition to ensure such transportation. Vil- tegic goals, the company is implementing in- nius PLC being designed will serve as a “land frastructure development work, participating in port” which in the near future will allow reduc- international projects, reorganising and modern- ing container flow loads in Klaipėda Seaport. izing the company management structure, and “We hope that these projects will contrib- introducing new innovative solutions. A modern- ute to the development of intermodal trans- ised locomotive fleet is currently the most mod- port, improve the possibilities of transporting ern one in the Central and Eastern Europe. cargoes in the entire territory of the country, “In the recent year, Lithuanian Railways and help attract additional cargo flows in the have been intensively implementing infra- East – West and North – South directions,” said structure and development work: the road S. Gudvalis, sharing his expectations. section Vilnius-Kaunas is being modernised, A positive impetus for intermodality de- secondary roads are under construction in the velopment is provided by the development Vilnius bypass, the Klaipėda railway node is be- of the international project “East West Trans- ing expanded, the project “Rail Baltica” is pro- port Corridor II” (EWTC II) which is being im- gressing. All these projects aim at increasing plemented under the EU Baltic Sea Region Co- road volume, integrating the Lithuanian rail- operation Programme. The concept of the East andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus way network into the common EU transport West “green” transport corridor include the network as well as strengthening the connec- movement of cargo flows between the south- tions with Klaipėda Port,” said the Deputy CEO. ern Baltic countries via Lithuania and Belarus Stasys Gudvalis, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of JSC Lithuanian Railways and the Head of the Cargo According to the head of the Cargo Trans- to Russia, Ukraine, Caucasus, Central Asia, Chi- Transportation Directorate: “We hope that these projects will contribute to the development of intermodal portation Directorate, the strategic stations of na and other Far East countries, by using the transport, improve the possibilities of transporting cargoes in the entire territory of the country, and help Paneriai, Kaunas (Palemonas), Šeštokai are be- advantages of transport types and their effec- attract additional cargo flows in the East – West and North – South directions”. ing modernised, adapting them to intermod- tive integration. JSC Lithuanian Railways are al carriages. After completing the modernisa- heading the working group in this project the main aim of which is to create the concept of train “Viking”, attempts are being made to ex- 2011 suggest a rapid future growth of cargo tion works of Vaidotai station, the first public lo- pand its route from the direction of Klaipėda flows. At the same time, this will contribute to gistics centre in Lithuania is being established smooth and continuous cargo flow movement via railways in the East West transport corridor port to Scandinavian countries, and from the the reduction of air pollution. A total of 1,000 in its vicinity. Territorial planning documents direction of Odessa (Illychevsk) to Turkey, Cau- TEU were transported by train during May and are in preparation. The project will be launched and propose a concrete action plan for its im- plementation. The project partners include the casian and Middle East countries. The compa- June. in 2012. In the area of 460 ha, container termi- scientific and governmental institutions and ny has formed a coordination council for the the representatives of the company are nals will be arranged as well as 4 railway loading business organisations from Sweden, Den- intermodal train “Viking” and signed cooper- maintaining contacts with the largest Lithu- complexes. The companies with their seat in Vil- mark, Germany, Belarus and Lithuania. ation agreements with Turkish port of Sam- anian enterprises and associations. Constant nius public logistics centre will be able to pool sun and the Turkish Industrialist and Business- contacts are being maintained with the repre- the possibilities of three transport types, name- men’s Association Musiad. An internet website sentatives of the Lithuanian National Freight ly, railway, car and air transport. The advantag- From theory to practice and brand is being developed for the “Viking”. Forwarders’ Association Lineka, the Associa- es of this logistics centre include low warehous- Searching for modern management and It is expected that in 2011, after new members tion of Cereal Processors, the Association of ing costs, favourable geographical location, in- marketing solutions in the area of intermodal join this project, it will reach a new quality lev- Crushed Stone Producers, and the Lithuanian termodality, and all necessary communications. transport and aiming to absorb the best inter- el. In half a year, 16,300 TEU (a relative contain- National Road Carriers’ Association Linava. The “We have already signed an agreement national practice, the company is participating er measurement unit) have been transported company is actively participating in the events with the winner of the open tender procedure in the project “Hinterport” funded by the Eu- by the “Viking” – a 61 percent increase in trans- organized by the Lithuanian Confederation of AB “Pramprojektas” which is set complete the ropean Commission’s Marco Polo programme portation volume. Industrialists and the Lithuanian Chamber of design work for Vilnius public logistics centre which is focused on the best examples of in- Commerce, Industry and Crafts. Moreover, the in November 2011. Then, contractor organ- termodality promotion as well as the integra- company has signed cooperation agreements isation procedure will be implemented. We tion of different transport types, promoting “Vilnius Shuttle” has proven its worth with the Directorate General of State Forests, hope that the design work for PLC will be per- the transition to more sustainable and eco- The year 2011 was the second successful the Association of Lithuanian Aggregate Pro- formed professionally and to the highest qual- nomical vehicles. year of operation for the intermodal train “Vil- ducers, and the Lithuanian Logistics Associa- ity standards. Moreover, the establishment of other intermodal projects have also been nius Shuttle”, the new Lithuanian Railways pro- tion. Kaunas PLC is in progress,” said Mr. Gudvalis. successfully developed including the inter- ject. The train runs on a regular basis, twice a To sum up, after assessing the company’s modal train “Viking” which has been running week between Klaipėda port “Draugystės” sta- solutions in the area of pricing and develop- Cooperation with logistics centre since 2003, and a new project of Lithuanian tion and Paneriai station in Vilnius. Contain- ment, we may state that the first half of 2011 Railways “Vilnius Shuttle” (Klaipėda – Vilnius – ers are transported by railway transport to the for JSC Lithuanian Railways was a period of in- developers Klaipėda). Paneriai Railway Station and then they are de- tensive and successful work contributing the The specialists of JSC Lithuanian Railways In order to continue increasing the livered to the recipient by car to their point country’s economy growth and served as a while closely cooperating with the Western lo- amount of cargoes transported by intermodal of destination. The results of the first half of preparatory stage for future activities. bfl

4 RAIL Establishing a single Eu ropean railway area Independence of rail service facilities (Article 13 of Proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a single European railway area (Recast) shutterstock

Objective of the Recast is to increase tively used. For this reason, the EU is aiming about 46 % share of the whole freight trans- • integrated model of railway manage- at finding the means to provide equal condi- portation market. The activity of the Lithuani- ment creates the conditions of direct- freight transportation volume by tions for the carriers to use the existing ser- an railways is profitable, even though in com- ing the freight carrier, departments of railways vice facilities. parison to the other EU Member States, the service facilities and the infrastructure European Union strategic objective is to According to the EC, the separation of ser- freight transportation tariffs are among the manager to a common goal, i.e. increas- increase the rail transport’s market share. Ac- vice facilities from the dominant rail carriers lowest, whereas the railway infrastructure ac- ing the volume of freight transportation cording to European Commission nation- is one of the essential means that will elimi- cess charge is among the highest due to a and reducing the service expenses. very low financial support of the state.T aking al dominant rail carriers are not able to com- nate the possibility to discriminate new carri- The impact of these principal conditions into consideration the given tariffs, it can be pete with the road transport and at the same ers and will create conditions for the compe- on the results of the Lithuanian railways ac- stated that the EU strategic objective has al- time to fulfil EU strategic objective due to the tition in the railway transport market. tivity is proved not only by the achieved vol- ready been fulfilled in the Lithuania. insufficient motivation to increase efficiency. The Recast provisions provide for the le- ume of transportation and profit, but also by In order to reduce the prices of freight trans- gal, organizational and decision-making in- the effective use of the traction rolling stock. portation and to increase its quality the EC is dependence of the service facility operator 2. Lithuanian railways are operating Recast provides substantial modification planning to develop a competitive environ- from the dominant rail carrier. Furthermore, under the following conditions: of two railway management models - the in- ment among the railway undertakings (car- dominant rail carriers shall not possess any tegrated and separated model, currently ap- riers) in the whole EU. New carriers are pre- service facilities. • there is a great competition with the rail- plied in the EU countries, by separating ser- vented from entering the market since they ways of other countries (Latvia, Estonia, vice facilities into an independent company do not possess the service facilities neces- 1. Peculiarities of Recast Russia, Ukraine, Belarussia and Poland) or companies. The goal of European Commis- sary for transportation, such as rolling stock regarding the freight of the third coun- sion on restructuring the railway manage- maintenance and other technical facilities, implementation in Lithuania tries which comprises about 70 % of rail- ment is to increase the number of carriers, freight terminals and train formation facilities In Lithuania there is an integrated rail- way transport services; which competing with each other would re- etc. The development of new alternative ser- way model with separate accounts for in- • similarly, the competition with road duce tariffs and thereby the competitiveness vice facilities would require substantial car- frastructure management, passenger trans- transport in the local market concern- of the railway freight transportation would riers’ investments and in many cases the ca- portation and freight transportation activ- ing local freight which constitutes about increase. After separation of service facilities pacity of these facilities would not be effec- ities. Freight transportation by railways has 30 % of railway transport services; from the carrier, its ability to influence tar- Average freight transportation tariffs EUR/1000tkm (2010) Track Access Charges for freight in Lithuania amongst the highest in Europe (in EUR/train-km) 12 60 Typical 2000 Gross Ton Freight Train 55 11 50 45 10 40 35 9 30 8 25 20 7 15 6 10 5 5 0 Latvia Lithuania Estonia Belorussia Russia Italy Poland France Germany 4 3 Latvian Railways only operates at lower than Lithuanian Railways tariffs: 2 • 1/3 of freight consists of coal which is transported at exceptionally low rates in the whole 1520 area; 1 • freight operator does not subsidize passenger service. Latvian government covers 100 % expenses; 0 • passenger rolling stock is purchased using EU funds HR DK SP SE PT SI FR BE HU DE AT RO NL SF NO CH PL UK LV CZ BG EE SK LT RAIL 5 Establishing a single Eu ropean railway area iffs of the transport will be reduced to a min- vice facilities they need. However if the par- liquidation and establishment not only re- imum. The carrier’s controlled expenses at its ticular service facility market has developed quire additional costs, but will be legally very service net cost constitute less than 10 per- and alternative operators exist, there are no complicated. cent. Even fuel expenses, amounting to about any reasons to separate service facility from The requirement to separate service facil- 12 percent of the freight transportation net dominant railway undertaking. On the other ities is provided to apply only for dominant cost, would be more influenced by the deci- hand, if there is no alternative, establishment carriers in the market. Other carriers could sions of the service operator, not by the trans- of an independent service facilities operator have their rolling-stock repair workshops, porter. The dominant role in the formation of means creation of new monopoly having the freight terminals and other service facilities. the net cost of freight transportation servic- right to dictate its own conditions to the rail- Forced separation of the dominant carriers es would come for two monopoly structures way undertakings. in respect of other carriers, is an evident dis- – the infrastructure manager and operator of The carriers disposing service facilities in crimination that is incompatible with the EC service facilities, to whom the conditions of integral railway structures, and railway infra- declared striving to ensure free competition incomes assuring would be established with- structure managers, in assessing the needs of in the railway sector. out increasing volume and quality of servic- clients and traffic situation in the market, to- The decentralization of railways manage- es, but setting higher tariffs for their services. gether decide not only how better organize ment according to the requirements of the Predictable competition will not significant- the business and minimize the expenses of Recast establishing an independent operator ly influence on freight tariffs reducing, due to the railway sector, but also develop and im- of service facilities would eliminate the es- limited opportunities to influence net costs plement a long-term entire technological sential security condition of Lithuanian Rail- of the services for carriers. Therefore, with the chain, including the program of railway in- ways efficiency and would reduce their work šarūno mažeikos / BFL / mažeikos šarūno implementation of the Recast’s requirements vestment, which goal is to increase efficien- stability, efficiency and also competitiveness its main goal - to reduce tariffs of the trans- cy and competitiveness of the railway activ- in international freight transportation and portation services and thus to take from road ity in the freight transportation market. In domestic market. The final result of the Re- Albertas Šimėnas, director deputy JSC carriers part of freight in Lithuanian condi- contrast, after separation independent infra- cast provisions on the separation of service “Lithuanian railways”: In order to reduce the tions would not be met. It is more likely the structure manager, carrier and service facili- facilities system in Lithuanian Railways would prices of freight transportation and to increase its opposite result - the increase of transporta- ties operator will plan their investments sep- not be the increase in the efficiency of rail- quality the EC is planning to develop a competitive tion tariffs, and the decrease of the disposa- arately in a non-coordinated way. Ensuring ways work. It would be the elimination of a environment among the railway undertakings ble part of transportation market. The state, of compatibility of the investment programs dominating national carrier from the service (carriers) in the whole EU. due to the lack of funds, will be interested will be complicated. For example, if the carri- market of freight transportation. and will seek that the infrastructure manag- er acquires a new type of rolling stock and it A timeworn and old park of freight wag- ons is one of the main problems in a 1520 er increases to the maximum level railway in- would require appropriate restructuring and transportation, the reduction in transporta- mm gauge network. Only some Russian and frastructure charges. Operator of service fa- investment in both operator of service facil- tion tariffs would not be guaranteed.W hat is Ukraine companies manufacture new freight cilities occupying a monopoly position will ities and infrastructure manager. The carrier more, a new transporter could be eliminated wagons. If fact, these companies are monop- increase tariffs for their services. T he profit- will not influence the decisions of these enti- from the transportation market in the same olies in the market; therefore they fixed high seeking carriers, will compete only for prof- ties, if the Recast is adopted. way. itable lines of the railway. The Government, The operator of service facilities in order prices for wagons. A freight carrier JSC Lithu- seeking to ensure transportation of the to maximize incomes could reserve all ser- anian Railways used their own finances to es- freight in non-profitable lines will be forced vice facilities capacities (rolling stock mainte- tablish and get a certificate for a new wagon 3. Proposed Solution to increase funding for railway infrastruc- nance etc.) for third countries (non EU) orders. workshop where the company’s wagons are It is proposed to abstain from compulso- ture. It can be argued that the reductions of In this case, the activity of the dominant carri- renewed, their exploitation term is extended ry to separate the infrastructure of service fa- and in this way the problem of a wagon park the freight railway tariffs will be achieved not ers may be paralyzed, and its position would cilities from a railway undertaking (a carrier) deprivation is resolved. According to the pro- due to the implementation of the Recast pro- be taken over by another carriers. In addition, and to apply the common principles of the visions of the Recast, this workshop should visions, but only due to the state funding in- the dominant carrier without any of service EU competition law. be separated and its service should be pro- crease for railway infrastructure and depart- facilities, will not have equal opportunities to The EU competition law (including case- vided for all railway companies under equal ment of service facilities, which can only be compete with other carriers which are free law) establishes this principle: The company conditions. Therefore, other concerned coun- ensured by economically strong EU mem- of such restrictions and at least for this rea- dominating on the market has to give a com- try’s company which is established in Lithu- bers. son will not have any possibilities to keep the petitor a right to use the essential facilities for ania and has a transporter license, for exam- Currently any economic body can estab- dominant position. Pursuant to Recast, new a reasonable price. These facilities are neces- ple the company of the Belarusian Railways, lish and manage service facilities and supply dominant transporter should liquidate all of sary for a small company in executing their would have the right to purchase the service services in these facilities. The EC, requiring its existing service facilities, and the carrier to renew wagons. After assessing the size business. It is unreasonable for a small com- to separate service facilities from the domi- which lost the dominant position will get the and state of Belarusian Railways wagon park pany to invest in them, because investments nant carriers, essentially acknowledges that opportunity to organize its own service facili- , it is clear that their orders could fully com- would be inadequately high. the facilities market is developing and new ties. With replacement of the dominant carri- plete the whole workshop capacities for the The Recast must define the term “ser- carriers have no opportunities to use ser- er compulsory procedures of service facilities next ten years. The same scenario can be ap- vice facilities” and determine that dominant plied to the traction vehicle maintenance. If a company on the railways market should pro- Essential elements of rail freight transportation system freight transporter of JSC Lithuanian Railways vide an access to its essential facilities of in- did not have a possibility to get the mainte- frastructure to small railway companies for Loading/ un- nance service for traction vehicles, it would reasonable price. Consequently new railway Customer Freight rolling Rolling stock be forced to abandon the transportation companies would have a chance to go into stock, locomo- technical loading, train Train traffic Railway service system market. If a new transporter dominated on the market and the efficiency of functional tives crew maintenance formation management infrastructure system the Lithuanian market, the increase in freight railway companies would not be reduced. Magistral Locomatives Freight terminals: Traffic manage- Railway lines, Locomotive usage efficiency Marketing locomotices workshops and loading equi- ment center station tracks depos pment, storage Rail operator Number of freight and Freight turnover (mill. Locomotive efficiency Freight Signalization/au- Documentation places, station shunting locomotives 1 tkm) 2 (mill.tkm/loc.) wagons Freight wagons tracks Stations (state tomatic systems repair depot watchers, ZSSK Cargo (Slovak) 643 6485 10,1 Payments Locomativves stewards) Communication crew Rolling stock Switching systems PKP Cargo (Poland) 2854 29941 10,5 washing locomatives station staff Electricity suply SNCF (France) 2257 26482 11,7 Wagons technical system maitenance CD (Czech) 867 11253 13 Fuel base Station buildings RENFE (Spain) 491 6973 14,2 CP (Portugal) 140 2549 18,2 Integrated railwy management system VR (Finland) 385 8872 23 Carriers „Service facilities“ objects Railway infrastructure DB AG (Germany) 3696 93948 25,4

Railway management model after separation of railway infrastructure LG (Lithuania) 264* (174) 11888 45,0* (68,3) * incl.90 non-operational old LG locomotives Carriers „Service facilities“ objects Infrastructure manager Source: 1. www.railfaneurope.net 2. UIC, International Railway Statistics 2009

Railway management model proposed by European Commission • LG locomotives used 3-5 times more efficient than in other EU member states • Rolling stock volumes directly affect staff numbers, work efficiency, services cost and tariffs Carriers „Service facilities“ operators Infrastructure manager • Essential condition of efficient rail transportation system of LG – an integral Railway operations management 6 RAIL East-West Direction: Viking and Merkurijus

AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” (Lithuanian Railways) is successfully implementing the intermodal project Viking. ner of the project Viking. According to him, it It is expected that success also will accompany the train Merkurijus, which is now under refurbishment is a great opportunity to bring Europe nearer to the Near East. and reconditioning. At the present moment the ways are being sought how to implement this project as successfully as possible – further cooperation has already been agreed with railwaymen from other countries. Memorandum signed At the conference, AB “Lietuvos gele- žinkeliai” and representatives of Turkey’s In- dependent Industrialists and Business As- sociation “MUSIAD” signed a letter of intent (Memorandum of Understanding). The par- ties to the letter of intent will pursue to pro- mote mutually-beneficial partnership and cooperation both in business and in support- ing mutual relationships as well as to develop freight transportations by railways between the Baltic and Black Sea regions, the Scandi- navian and Near East countries. As well, it will be sought to cooperate in promoting freight transportations by the shuttle train Viking as well as usage of freight transportation servic- es and related services provided by AB “Lietu- vos geležinkeliai”. The parties are interested to cooperate in organising freight transportations along the Rail Baltica corridor and to exploit to the

artūro aušros artūro maximum extent the capacities of Vilnius

and Kaunas Public Logistics Centres, which are now being developed in Lithuania. It is planned to put much effort in organising articipants of the international conference nies of Klaipėda, Ilyichevsk and Odessa ports, corridors, ice-free seaport, favourable invest- freight transportation and distribution via P“Project Viking. Intermodal Solutions, De- connecting the Baltic and Black Seas. The Vi- ing environment, the broad-gauge railway Vilnius and Kaunas Logistics Centres that are velopment and Prospects”, which was held in king’s route, which is of 1734 kilometres in and the construction of the European-gauge intended to be set up, by diverting freight Vilnius, were familiarised with the directions of length, can be travelled in 52 hours, of which track generate competitive conditions for car- traffic as much as possible to the East-West promotion of activities of AB „Lietuvos gelezin- 12.7 hours are taken in the territory of Lithua- go transit in our territory and are serving for corridor. keliai“, services rendered, projects underway, nia. The inspection of the train upon departure the project Viking. freight transportation development prospects and arrival at Kena Railway Station takes barely Investments into logistics centres in directions of the Baltic and Black Seas us- 30 minutes on account of the introduced mod- Advantage – eco-friendliness Representatives of the Turkey’s Independ- ing the shuttle train Viking, as well as experi- ern inspection procedure. The train started Stasys Dailydka, General Director of AB “Li- ent Industrialists and Businessmen Associa- ence in intermodal freight forwarding was be- plying in 2003, and the quantities of contain- etuvos geležinkeliai”, emphasised the success- tion “MUSIAD” have also confirmed by way ing shared. It was mentioned in passing about ers carried are growing every year. Last year, ful performance of the project of the intermod- of the letter of intent that they are going to Azerbaijan’s, Georgia’s, Moldova’s and Syria’s in- these quantities amounted to almost 42 thou- al shuttle train Viking and the environmental consider the possibilities of making joint in- tentions to make use of the possibilities offered sand TEU (conditional container unit) and, if friendliness (eco-friendliness) of railway trans- vestments into Vilnius and Kaunas Logistics by Viking and that an agreement on further co- compared to the volumes of 2009, had grown port. According to him, we must look forward, Centres. “This agreement is a step towards operation had been signed with representa- by 5.8 percent. The train between the Baltic search for new alternatives in the competitive strengthening closer bilateral relations be- tives of Turkey. Another conference arranged and Black Seas had plied 638 times in 2010. economy and seek, with a sense of social re- tween Lithuania and Turkey. We, as business by AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” in the capital was sponsibility having in mind, to cooperate and representatives, are ready to conduct various named “Project Merkurijus. Development and More promising in the future develop the “green” transport by connecting studies in your country” – said Adnan Bostan, Prospects”. At the conference, discussions on Executive Committee Member and Vice-Pres- Arūnas Štaras, Vice-Minister of Transport the Scandinavian, Baltic and other Eastern Eu- issues of refurbishing and reconditioning the ident of International Relations Committee of and Communications, says that Viking is the rope and Near East countries. combined-transport train Merkurijus were tak- the Association “MUSIAD”. result of close cooperation between railway ing place among potential train operators and companies and state authorities. In the Vice- The fourth partner shippers: representatives from Lithuanian, Rus- Minister’s opinion, by virtue of joint concert- Schedules to be coordinated sian, Belorussian and Kaliningrad railways. Representatives for Baltic and Scandi- ed actions the project Viking in the future will navian countries of the Turkey’s Independ- The guests told that they were planning to be even more promising and will become a ent Industrialists and Businessmen Associa- create a new – eco-friendly – route along the Joint project strong centre of attraction for European and tion “MUSIAD” have also presented their ac- motor road from Turkey to Lithuania. It would The combined-transport train Viking is the Asian freight owners. tivities in Lithuania. Ismail Ugur Erkus, repre- be a route of 2435 kilometres across the EU ter- joint project of the Lithuanian, Belorussian, According to A. Štaras, our country’s ge- sentative of this Association, informed about ritory. Cargoes to Lithuania, Poland and Russia Ukrainian railways and stevedoring compa- ographical position, international transport Turkey’s decision to become the fourth part- could be carried not only by trains but also by RAIL 7 East-West Direction: Viking and Merkurijus artūro aušros artūro

Latvia ty of extending the train’s route to Kazakhstan. Specialists have estimated that the train can carry about 106 TEU at one time. So far, trans- Baltic sea Radviliškis portation tariffs are still being negotiated, but Klaipėda it is thought that they will not be lower than Kena usual. LITHUANIA Gudagoj If everything goes on as per the sched- Vilnius uled and thoroughly analysed plan, then the combined-transport intermodal train Merkuri- Molodečno Minsk jus will ply between Kaliningrad and Klaipėda ports as well as Moscow logistics centres. “De- Osipovichi RUSSIA velopment of intermodal transportations is POLAND Zlobino the top-priority area not only of Lithuania, but BELARUS Kalinkovichi also of many other countries. It is worth not- Slovechno ing that more and more interest in such servic- goods vehicles. Carrying cargoes from Ukrain- es is shown by business companies, while con- ian ports to Turkey by railway and road trans- Berezhest tainer shipment trends keep growing up by port would also save time. Korosten approximately 10 percent each year”, – said T. The distance from Ilyichevsk to Klaipėda Keršis. could also be travelled faster by combined Kiev mode and, besides, less time would be spent In pursuit of attracting entrepreneurs at customs offices. According to the partici- Shepetovka Kazatin pants of the event, Viking will play the key role, It was suggested for the participants of whereas other parties’ joinder to the project UKRAINE the discussion to employ joint efforts and to will provide background for project develop- Zhmerinka shape competitive tariffs for road transport, ment. In order to achieve an optimum freight- to raise the quality of services rendered, to transportation time, coordination of schedules Kotovsk apply contemporary information technol- of vessels, trains and aircraft will be required. ogies and to develop the partnership by at- tracting the business sector and encourag- MOLDOVA Odesa Compelled to support competitors ing it to use the “green transport” services. T. Keršis says that when frontier checkpoints According to Tomas Keršis, Director of Iljachovsk were being set up there were no estimates the Commerce Department of the Freight made for servicing such transport flows as Transportation Directorate of AB “Lietuvos Black sea now are crossing the borders and, there- geležinkeliai”, transportations from Klaipėda fore, there ensue queues of many kilometres. to the Ukraine have grown in number even Standing in such queues, drivers have to wait by 1000 TEU. He has emphasised that the Vi- even for several days and nights. “A train of king’s success mostly depends on a uniform 57 wagons can replace 80–90 road contain- tariff in all the countries. According to him, sian railways agree on the need for this train project”, – said T. Keršis. er carriers and can cross the border in half an the tariff in our country has not changed since and its route. In specialists’ opinion, Merkuri- According to him, specialists expect that 2008. It is thought that it will continue to re- jus could take in up to 114 traditional sea con- the growing volumes of container shipments hour. Such transportation mode is also effi- main the same and such stability will prompt tainers (TEU) and by one voyage would replace will give an opportunity for this train to start cient when it comes to human resources – the growth of transportations. T. Keršis has about 100 trucks. plying already from the next year. It will be pos- the train is serviced only by one crew of train also mentioned the paradoxical situation sible for containers from Klaipėda and Kalinin- drivers”, – said T. Keršis. that has currently ensued in Lithuania: virtu- Ports to be connected with Moscow grad ports to reach Moscow fast and safe. Pres- AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” assures that ally, railway and road transport are competi- ently, an analysis is being conducted for con- the train Merkurijus can become an exem- tors, but the excise duty paid by AB “Lietu- “Firm steps of project implementation are tainer shipments in this direction; it is sought plar of freight transportation along the route vos geležinkeliai” goes for road repairs, so the being taken: the working group for its imple- to identify the possible cargo base. Klaipėda-Minsk-Moscow. “I am sure that stra- company not only pays taxes, but also indi- mentation has been formed; meetings are be- tegic decisions that have been passed today rectly supports its competitors. ing arranged; technical details are being co- with regard to the development of the con- ordinated. It is planned that the Ministry of Possible to be extended to tainer train Merkurijus can be very beneficial The trail set by Viking is followed by Transport and Communications, Customs-, Kazakhstan not only for AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”, but Border-Guard Services and respective institu- According to T. Keršis, Merkurijus has good also for the entire transport system”, – said T. Merkurijus tions from other states will participate in the prospects for development; there is a possibili- Keršis. Another currently relevant project – the in- termodal container train Merkurijus will ply from Kaliningrad and Klaipėda ports via Vilni- The distance from Ilyichevsk to Klaipėda could also be travelled faster by combined mode and, besides, less us to Moscow. It is thought that this route will help to attract new freight and container lines. time would be spent at customs offices. According to the participants of the event, Viking will play the key role, Representatives of both Lithuanian and Rus- whereas other parties’ joinder to the project will provide background for project development. 8 RAIL Rail Baltica – Important Economic Project The Lithuanian Government has decided to continue building the European track Rail Baltica and complete the work within the specified period, i.e. by the end of 2013. The project mentioned above is among the key priorities of the country’s transport sector. In addition, implementation of the Rail Baltica project is an integral part of the Trans-European Transport Network Development Programme implemented by the European Union. andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus

Rail Baltica Project Authority Director Zenonas Kaminskas: „It is planned that LTL 850 million will be allocated to construction of the European track from the Lithuanian-Polish border to Kaunas, which will be split among the individual working stages.“ andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus

he Government has approved the Rail Bal- pean TEN-T network, which is currently being ject, and the EU Structural Funds will cover 53- on the private basis. More business represent- Ttica project immediate action plan, under adjusted. This would mean that all states com- 54 per cent of the total track costs in Lithua- atives may follow this example. The new rail- which the European railway track from the Pol- mit themselves to building this route without nia. It is planned that LTL 850 million will be al- way track is peculiar in that cargos will move ish-Lithuanian border to Kaunas is to be built delaying or protracting the work. located to construction of the European track in both directions, not only to Kaunas. “I think by the end of 2013. The Rail Baltica line length from the Lithuanian-Polish border to Kaunas, that at least the Rail Baltica’s Lithuania-Polish inside Lithuania (from Polish to Latvian bor- Useful for a number of countries which will be split among the individual work- border to Kaunas section should be seen as der) will be over 330 km. The estimated total ing stages. a large logistics stretch involving all those in- The project Rail Baltica is implemented by value of the project design costs in Lithuania is terested in logistics, wishing to carry out ship- the Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Polish and about LTL 1.9 billion. The project is funded by ments, sales and cargo sorting. And this can be Finnish representatives. It is predicted that by From Marijampolė to Kaunas the European Union (EU), TEN-T and Cohesion done by both Rail Logistics Centre Šeštokai and 2020, the traffic of cargo carried in the direc- The company Kelprojektas was entrust- Funds, as well as by the state budget and SC those in Marijampolė and Kazlų Rūda, where tion of Rail Baltica will increase by 60 percent, ed with the design of the project Rail Balti- Lithuanian Railways funds. only private businessmen will feel they may therefore suggesting that this is one of the ca railway section Marijampolė – Kazlų Rūda attract cargo,” said Z. Kaminskas. According most promising freightage directions. – Kaunas. It is a difficult task because a sep- to him, it is currently expected that the same Project importance The EU leaders look globally: by extending arate 1,435 mm width European track is be- track will be used to carry both cargo and pas- The project Rail Baltica has been acknowl- the F transport corridor to Kaunas, they will ap- ing designed on already existing railway em- sengers. The 100 km/h speed is planned to be edged as an economic project of national im- ply the cargo traffic management techniques bankment. In other words, a third railway will set for cargos and 120 km/h speed for passen- portance. According to the action plan ap- unusual to date. The work in the corridor will stretch near the two Russian roads, on one of gers. Such speed should be sufficient, bearing proved by the Government, by the end of be carried out under the EC adopted regula- the main intermediate carriers to Kaliningrad, in mind curves and turns, higher speed would 2013, the European track railway should start tion, which describes all relations between in- from Kazlų Rūda to the Kaunas Central Railway be unsafe: Designing tracks for trains rolling at functioning at the Polish-Lithuanian border – frastructure owners and transportation carri- Station. The track-laying work is to be complet- a speed of over 300 km/h, in Lithuania would Marijampolė – Kaunas. “The granting of a spe- ers. In addition, technical specifications will be ed by 2013. cial status of national importance to Rail Bal- defined and standards of freight traffic will be be too expensive due to the lack of passenger traffic. tica project will ensure its implementation as set: train length, axle loading and rolling-stock On three sections of the track well as contribute to more efficient use of EU changes. It is planned that the freight traffic support funds. The issues of land-forming and from the Dutch ports will make approximate- The EC has agreed to fund expansion of the An alternative to the Southern taking of land for public needs will also be ly 2.5 million tons a year. track options: laying the second Russian track dealt with faster”, said the Minister of Transport roads from Kaunas to the Latvian border. It is Corridor and Communication Eligijus Masiulis. planned to build the European track in three Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian feasibility Currently, the Rail Baltica work is moving Funded by the Government and EU large railway sections: Kaunas – Palemonas – study on “European rail line construction from fastest at the section between the Polish-Lith- The European track, connecting Warsaw, Gaižiūnai – Jonava; next, Jonava –Šiauliai and Kaunas to Tallinn via Riga” is now being carried uanian border and Kaunas. However, Lithua- Kaunas, Riga, Tallinn, and Helsinki, will be built Šiauliai – Latvian border, and other sections out. In our country, it covers the rail section nia is interested in the high-quality European in accordance with the feasibility study carried where the laying of separate roads is required. Šeštokai-Marijampolė. Moreover, a new Trans- track running over the whole of Poland and out by the British company Aecom. According The estimated length of the European track is European freight corridor Rotterdam-War- the Baltic states up to Tallinn. For that, the EU to the Rail Baltica Project Authority Director approximately 70 km, i.e. about two-thirds of saw-Kaunas is being established. Following support is required as well as a single policy for Zenonas Kaminskas, the said study revealed the distance between the Polish-Lithuanian the construction of rail line between Kaunas all states participating in the project. Lithuania that it is worth building a European track to border and Kaunas. According to the prelimi- and Tallinn, the corridor will be extended. This agrees for the European Commission (EC) to the north of Kaunas. The State allocated LTL 20 nary calculations, the track from Kaunas to the means that a corridor to move goods north is include the Rail Baltica project into the Euro- million to implement the track technical pro- Lithuanian-Latvian border will cost approxi- established as an alternative to the Southern mately LTL 1.1 billion. Corridor, which Russia inteds to build.

The EC has agreed to fund expansion of the track options: laying the second Increase in freight Connecting, not dividing Russian track roads from Kaunas to the Latvian border. It is planned to build When exploring the Rail Baltica options, it The directorate of the project “Via Balti- the European track in three large railway sections: Kaunas – Palemonas – has been found that the freight traffic will un- ca” guided by the decisions of the govern- doubtedly increase. For example, 6 million ment adopted in 2009-2011, aims at reno- Gaižiūnai – Jonava; next, Jonava –Šiauliai and Šiauliai – Latvian border, tons of cargo are planned to be handled at the vating and modernizing the railroad running and other sections where the laying of separate roads is required. Mockava cargo terminal currently being built through Marijampolė. In Marijampolė, a Soviet RAIL 9 Rail Baltica – Important Economic Project Šeštokai: Where Two Rail Tracks Intersect Timber is cargo No 1 shipped by rail northwards and southwards through Šeštokai Railway Station. As railway line is being renovated; city streets are equipped with modern underground cross- compared with the last year‘s same period, its volume transported by rail has increased by a third this ings; noise is being reduced, ecological and year, and the total of 91200 tons of cargo was shipped towards Western Europe and southwards this aesthetic condition of the city is being im- proved. The hope is that with the recovering year–a double increase from last year‘s Q1. economics, the project will help the citizens of Marijampolė develop their businesses. In Marijampolė, the project is divided in two phases – from Kaunas to Marijampolė rail- way station and from Marijampolė to Šeštokai. A feasibility study on the first phase – from Kaunas to Marijampolė railway station – was prepared, an environmental impact was as- sessed, and Marijampolė dwellers were famil- iarized with its results. The second phase – from Marijampolė to Šeštokai – is also in prog- ress. The quality of life will be improved Specialists emphasize that train movement through Marijampolė will undergo no or slight changes. This means that the current applica- ble permits on the maximum number of trains are far from being exhausted. Experts of the AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” (Lithuanian Rail- ways) point out that during the construction the most advanced means of reducing and compensating for the adverse effects on the environment will be employed. Long rails are to be used in the construction of “Rail Baltica”; therefore, the trains will cause less noise. The main railway crossings in Marijampolė will be constructed underground. Thus Marijampolė dwellers will no longer have to stand in traffic jams at the closed crossings. It will also reduce rom Western Europe towards Bela- have set up their own logistics terminals to the With the hope of attracting new clients, the noise level. Moreover, modern, sound- Frus and Russia through Šeštokai Rail- direction of Brest, and they have developed carriers from Western Europe will see re- absorbing or breaking walls will be installed way Station, containers and covered goods their rail infrastructure so that they could sup- duced fees for cargo handling and relat- alongside the railway. Currently, as the study wagons with home appliances are shipped. ply the terminals with cargos. ed activities in Šeštokai Railway Station– is being carried out, it is estimated that the city According to Railway Station Chief Anta- This Polish stance is sustained by econom- fees for containers, timber, and cargo on and the surrounding settlements will require nas Sutkaitis, there is plenty of cargo but ic reasons–the direction of Brest seems to be bolsters were reduced up to 68%, and the approximately 10 km of these walls. According to have even more would be appreciated, much more appealing, and the Belorussian fee for storing cargo in open areas by 33%. to sanitary standards, residents whose houses and that is possible to achieve–only 60% market makes the Polish get interested in The fee for handling customs procedures are close to the railway will be recommended of the station‘s potential is utilised. A 400 terms of exports and imports. ‘It’s disappoint- was equalised and significantly reduced to install plastic windows. metre long ramp and an area for contain- ing that the Polish impose lower tariffs by 20% (up to 82%). ers and heavy cargo (about 750 sq. metres) to 30%. There is no way of competing on such was built in Šeštokai Railway Station where terms. We pointed it out to our counterparts New Deals More greenery and ecology cranes, stackers and other required equip- telling that such terms are discriminatory and On 10 May in the biggest and one of the Marijampolė dwellers living away from the ment is available. contravene the principles of the European Un- major transport exhibition Transport-Lo- track will enjoy renewed and clean environ- ‘For the purpose of having as much ion,’ claimed Stasiūnas. gistic held every two years in Munich (Ger- ment, better lighting will also be installed. Sci- freight shipped southwards and north- At the beginning of this year, an agreement many), AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ Director entists have long ago proven that railways are wards as possible, we saw how we are regarding the change in pricing principles for General Stasys Dailydka and Hans-Georg one of the cleanest modes of transport. It is adapted to receive, store, and reload cargo, certain types of freight was reached with the Werner, Chair of the Board of DB Schenker estimated that the reconstruction will signifi- what kind of infrastructure we have, and counterparts from PKP CARGO, and positive Rail Polska S.A., signed an agreement on in- cantly reduce pollution: carbon monoxide pol- therefore we made investment to upgrade results are immediate to observe. ternational freight traffic by rail through the lution will be 265 times lower, volatile organ- it. In other words, we made sure we have national Polish-Lithuanian border. ic compounds – 537 times lower, and particu- something to offer.T hen advertising fol- Bulk Cargo Increasing It defines payment arrangements and li- late matter – 47 times lower than the allowable lowed–after setting up a service, we put a ‘We have to think constantly what cargos can ability with regard to receiving, dispatch- limit. Railway bed will be cleaned or renovat- beautiful garment on it and started spread- be shipped through Šeštokai Railway Station,’ ing, and reloading freight cars, containers ed, European security systems will be installed. ing information through our databases to says Stasys Gudvalis, Director of AB „Lietuvos and cargo in Šeštokai Railway Station. The Surroundings will be more attractive, quality our clients, inviting them to cooperate. We gelezinkeliai“ Freight Transportation Directo- countries will exchange information and of life will be improved, more amenities will be made presentations about the station in rate. ‘We have noticed that the Polish ship huge will cooperate on commercial and opera- available. In addition, the researchers have es- conferences, forums, the press, and now we quantities of coal from Russia because they are tional issues, aiming to establish ever more timated that during the passenger and freight can see the results–the number of clients is about to close their own mines. They also trans- favourable conditions for freight flows us- transport by rail, the average emissions of growing,’ said Saulius Stasiūnas, Deputy Di- port considerable amount of road metal as they ing transit rail through Lithuania south- CO gas are 3-10 times less than during trans- rector of AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ Freight 2 are expanding their road network. An idea was wards and northwards. Transportation Directorate. port by road or air. It will be possible to travel born to have not only a container terminal but ‘We are attempting to achieve positive comfortably and quickly by European passen- also that of bulk cargo in Šeštokai.’ results at the negotiating table with lo- ger trains from Marijampolė railway station to Obstacles Can Be Surmounted Initially, we intend to purchase a mobile gistics, forwarding, and rail companies of Western European cities as well as other capi- Written requests and applications of the shovel loader to reload bulk cargo from broad other countries involved in international tals of Baltic countries. clients regarding freight shipping through gauge (1520 mm) wagons to those of stand- freight shipping, and we have seen success Šeštokai was the fundamental ‘materi- ard gauge (1435 mm). After setting up a bulk with “Polzug”, “Hupac Intermodal” SA, “Vilte- Benefits of the project al evidence’ that the experts of AB „Lietu- cargo terminal, up to 2 to 2,5 million tons of da”, “Agrokoncernas”, “Novatrans”, “Ttimber Specialists believe that “Rail Baltica” belong- vos gelezinkeliai“ submitted to their Pol- bulk cargo can be handled annually. The ter- Logistics” in respect of freight shipping by ing to the Trans-European transport network ish counterparts from “PKP Cargo”. ‘We have minal will see about 10 million litas of invest- rail towards Poland while reloading cargo in will improve the communication of the Bal- customers, cargos, written requests; howev- ment, and it will be built until 2012. Šeštokai Railway Station,’ claimed Stasiūnas. tic region with other EU countries, will ensure er, we cannot ship cargos because the Pol- As of 2012, the intended development The agreements with such global com- the development of the North-South railway ish concentrate more on the direction of will allow to hope for the general increase in panies as “DB Schenker” indicate that AB transport axis. This will strengthen the coun- Brest, not on that of Šeštokai,’ said Stasiūnas. freight by 3,5 million tons. Bearing in mind that „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ is considered to try’s transit potential and international com- Two rails of different gauge intersect in at the current moment only a fraction more be a reliable partner in freight shipping in petitiveness. It is planned that “Rail Baltica” will Šeštokai Railway Station: the broad gauge than 220000 tons of cargo is shipped annual- various directions that makes impression. encourage freight transport by rail and thus in- of 1520 mm and standard one of 1435 mm. ly, spirits are high and predictions are really op- Stasiūnas was convinced by that when, af- crease the import, export and transit opportu- This makes the railway station special but, timistic. They are based on two important as- ter signing the agreement with “DB Schen- nities. Railway infrastructure development, lo- however, it is not unique. An analogous sit- pects–the potential of freight shipped by road ker Rail Polska” S.A. in Munich, represent- gistic centers established and faster commu- uation can be found in Brest Railway Sta- transport because around 10 to 12 million tons atives of the French National Railway Cor- nication with the neighboring countries will tion located on the Belarusian-Polish bor- of cargo are transported through Kalvarija Bor- poration (SNCF) began to take an active have a positive impact on the activities of busi- der. This station is in some sense a compet- der Check Point, and the revision of pricing interest in freight shipping opportunities ness companies and investment attractiveness itor for Šeštokai Railway Station–the Polish principles,’ stated Gudvalis. through Šeštokai Railway Station. of Lithuanian regions. 10 RAIL Public Logistics Centres Are Rising The majority of cargoes in Western Europe and in Lithuania are carried by road transport; therefore, the main trunk roads are extremely laden. It is forecast that by 2050 the volumes of cargo carriage by road transport will double and, therefore, it is necessary to look for more efficient modes of transportation. One of such is intermodal transportations, whose suitable organisation, reliability, flexibility and attractiveness can be ensured by Public Logistics Centres. andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus

In Vilnius City Municipality, Mayor A. Zuokas and Stasys Dailydka, General Director of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”, have signed the agreement on the establishment of Public Institution “Vilnius Logistics Park” as well as the agreement of partners (venturers) of this institution. The newly established enterprise will be responsible for the development of territories located next to the future intermodal terminal as well as for attraction of investors who are planning to engage here in activities related to transport and logistics.

With volumes of cargo carriage in contain- ment and management of the Vilnius Logis- sides, by setting up such park we will create a ers ever increasing, it is planned to establish in tics Centre. The Vilnius City Municipality Coun- better environment for investors – infrastruc- Lithuania four Public Logistics Centres (PLC): cil has given its approval for the establishment ture will be made ready for companies to set the first will appear in Vilnius, then – in Kau- of the Vilnius Logistics Park (VLP). By estab- up on the prepared land plots”, – said Artūras nas, and later on in Šiauliai and Klaipėda. Pur- lishing the said institution, funding will be se- Zuokas, Mayor of Vilnius. portedly, setting up container loading termi- cured from the EU Cohesion Fund for the con- nals will ensure their intermodality. For setting struction of the Vilnius Logistics Park. Based The value of works – around up thereof, the list of state projects provides on calculations made in the feasibility study, 100 million Litas for financing from the EU Cohesion Fund, as the logistics park will replenish the municipal- well as contracts for designing intermodal ter- ity’s budget with more than 3 million Litas an- According to Eligijus Masiulis, Minister of minals on Vilnius and Kaunas PLC territories nually. Using the EU methodology, all social Transport and Communications, the estab- have been signed. and economic benefits of the VLP project have lishment of such centre should open new op- been estimated, which during the project’s life portunities for business. The prepared feasibil- Public institution has been cycle, i.e. during 30 years, should amount to ity study puts forward proposal to develop the up to 340 million Litas. Vilnius PLC in several stages: firstly, to build an established “The establishment of the logistics park is intermodal terminal with all necessary com- According to Saulius Stasiūnas, Depu- the most optimum way of allotting land plots munications infrastructure, later on – to form

andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus land plots designated for commercial activ- ty Director for Development of the Freight to private companies, which by way of carry- Transportation Directorate of AB “Lietuvos ing out their activities would earn extra in- ities of operators: for warehousing, loading, geležinkeliai” (JSC “Lithuanian Railways”), AB come both for the budget of the municipality customs, vehicle storage, insurance and oth- According to Saulius Stasiūnas, Deputy Director “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” and the municipali- and for the budget of Lithuania as well as for er services. ty of the capital is taking care of the develop- the company AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”. Be- for Development of the Freight Transportation Vilnius PLC will be set up near one of the Directorate of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”, the Lithuania’s largest railway stations – Vaid- special and detailed plans for Vilnius PLC have otai Railway Station. Territorial planning and It is planned that shortly, in the centre of Lithuania, a well-developed been already prepared, whereby a modern and environmental impact assessment docu- transport node will be in place, which will be able to ensure high-level functional fit-out of the container land terminal ments have been prepared and have already been approved by the Vilnius City Munici- services for Lithuanian and foreign logistics-chain participants interested as well as land plots for investors willing to set up on the fully prepared territory are formed. pality Council. Construction works are being in transporting freight across the region of the Baltic countries. planned to commence in 2012. The value of RAIL 11

Tomas Piliukas, Head of the Logistics and Transit Department: It should be mentioned that public logistics cen- Public Logistics Centres Are Rising tres will be set up next to Trans-European transport corridors No. I and IX crossing the territory of Lithu- ania, near the most important industrial districts. construction works of the logistics centre is one of Vilnius PLC parts – the Logistics Park, The centres will connect different types of trans- around 100 million, of which 84 million Litas which will be set up on the vacant state land port (railway-, road-, sea- and air transport) and will be allocated from EU Structural Funds. AB plot of 31 ha in area, not far from the Pagiriai will ensure the intermodality of transport as well „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ will allocate 470 thou- settlement. Responsibility for the other pro- as interaction between different types of transport. sand Litas for the beginning of the park’s op- ject part – the development of the intermodal Establishment of public logistics centres will enable eration. Funds for operation are planned to (container) land terminal – will further lie with excess transport traffic in towns and cities when tra- be obtained from investors, while EU is also the specialists of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”. to partly concentrate the companies providing lo- velling from one inspection point to another one. promising to allocate some. gistics and warehousing services, which presently As all projects of public logistics centres are recogni- No analogues in Europe are very widely scattered. It happens that logistics sed to be economic projects relevant to the state, for Logistics park to be set up in Vilnius According to E. Masiulis, who came to con- and warehousing companies are located within the implementation thereof it is planned to allocate EU Quite recently, at Vilnius City Municipality, gratulate the signatories of the agreement, af- boundaries of towns and cities, which exerts nega- structural support, which amounts to approximate- Mayor A. Zuokas and Stasys Dailydka, Gener- ter the terms and conditions thereof are im- tive effect on traffic safety by increasing traffic con- ly 250 million Litas. As well, the Ministry of Transport al Director of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”, have plemented, we will have the container land gestions, accident rates and air pollution in cities. and Communications, as an authority coordinating signed the agreement on the establishment terminal even before 2014 with no analogues With the intermodal terminal having been built of VšĮ “Vilniaus logistikos parkas” (Public Insti- in Eastern and Central Europe, which will the development of public logistics centres, is in conti- tution “Vilnius Logistics Park”) as well as the make intermodal transportations more effi- (the most important element of the public logis- nuous cooperation with municipalities, business repre- agreement of partners (venturers) of this insti- cient. “Being set up alongside, the intermodal tics centre), cargo carriage companies will have sentatives, and institutions carrying out inspections. tution. The newly established enterprise will terminal and the Logistics Park will enable to the possibility of enjoying the advantages offered The projects of public logistics centres have received be responsible for the development of terri- create the common concept of a kind of “land by intermodal transportations as well as of opti- huge support from the Government, self-government tories located next to the future intermodal port” and will decrease the ever growing load mising their transportation routes. A customs offi- institutions and business. We believe that they will be terminal as well as for attraction of investors of the Klaipėda Seaport and also will widen its ce and other controlling agencies will function at who are planning to engage here in activities service limits. In this way, the competitive po- successfully implemented and will bring enormous related to transport and logistics. The signed sitions of Lithuania as a logistics state will be public logistics centres, which will allow avoiding benefits to the transport sector of Lithuania. agreement obligates to develop alongside fortified”, – said E. Masiulis.

The Vilnius PLC project is receiving attention and interest from investors: from the very start of its implementation it has been sought to inform the public and business about new opportunities to emerge after the project has been implemented. 12 RAIL

Specialists of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”, cooperating with German and Italian companies engaged in the development of Western European logistics centres, have ascertained that the benefits of PLC are associated not only with income and creation of new work places, but also with freight transportations by more environmentally-friendly and more economical vehicles.

Best specialists engaged for the contract has provided for preparation of de- as well as specialists of other project parts. or even a conclusion can be made that inter- sign solutions, purchase documents for con- According to R. Butkevičius, for the present modal transportations are one of the most ef- designing struction works, a technical design, as well as for moment the land plot’s topographic and geo- ficient freight-transportation modes, whereas AB “Pramprojektas” and AB “Lietuvos gele- supervision of implementation thereof. Design- logical surveys as well as design proposals are the development and creation of PLC is a pre- žinkeliai” have signed the contract for designing ing works are performed by company employ- accomplished. The latter have already been requisite for ensuring such transportations. the Vilnius PLC’s Intermodal Terminal. Romual- ees possessing most experience: Project Man- discussed with specialists from the working das Butkevičius, Project Manager at “Prampro- agers G. Kazlauskienė and R. Butkevičius, other group of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”, the Vilni- Investors taking interest jektas”, said that the Vilnius PLC’s intermodal ter- specialists A. Orlauskas, V. Sidaravičius, E. Railė, us Territorial Customs Office, the State Food In accordance with the approved detailed minal is being designed under the said contract: J. Stelmokienė, V. Tarnauskienė, I. Ardanavičiūtė, and Veterinary Service, the Ministry of Agri- culture as well as other specialists. Design- plan for Vilnius PLC, a state land plot for the ing works are planned to be completed in the construction of the intermodal terminal and S four land plots of the Logistics Park (ranging alinink middle of November this year. ų g. from 2.5 ha to 13.6 ha in area) have been al- l. ready formed. The Vilnius PLC project is receiv- kių p K Eišiš Plans under preparation ir Salininkai ing attention and interest from investors: from tim ų According to S. Stasiūnas, the special and g the very start of its implementation it has been . detailed plans for Vilnius PLC have been al- sought to inform the public and business about ready prepared, whereby a modern and func- new opportunities to emerge after the project

Ba . tional fit-out of the container land terminal as Vaidotai l g has been implemented. Meetings with poten- to s ų i i . os l well as land plots for investors willing to set tial Vilnius PLC customers and developers of g e V t o o . k s k i r ė g up on the fully prepared territory are formed. handling (loading and discharge) technologies a Baltoji s a P ų g i . R č Now, purportedly, it is the most suitable time Vokė r have been arranged on a continuous basis; al- K a B for coordinating the layout (arrangement) of ir ready 7 letters of intent have been signed with t im the future infrastructure and for pursuing that ų companies seriously considering the possibility

u g . the work of companies and institutions that p of setting up in the Logistics Park. Negotiations .

V will operate in PLC in the future would be as with three companies of international scale are o

k P ė smooth and efficient as possible. ag Miškiniai successfully closing with regard to investments iri ų Purportedly, PLC would enable to reduce g. and development of activities in Lithuania. V o the wide range of goods distribution costs k An especially great support for implement- ė s Baltosios Vokės g. by diverting the traffic of heavy duty vehicles g . ing the project will become the Customs De- . g ių away from the city centre. Thus their negative partment under the Ministry of Finance, the rp u JUODŠILIAI D impact on environment would be reduced. State Food and Veterinary Service and the Constructions are planned to be commenced State Plant Service under the Ministry of Ag- u p already in the first half of next year. . riculture. Purportedly, serious intentions have PAGIRIAI V o kė been already expressed to concentrate the Benefits of the project services rendered by these agencies namely K a in Vilnius PLC. l n It is asserted that the emergence of Vilni- o

g us PLC will promote the development of ur- . J .

L a ban infrastructure as well as of small and me- The Park – a consolidation centre š Šiaudinė in s dium business, will create many new work k It is expected that the Logistics Park will Melekonys io places, and will improve business conditions g function as the logistics consolidation centre . Lankų g. in the region. The feasibility study, which was of Vilnius City, will create a place favourable accomplished at the end of last year, has es- for investments, and will contribute to the res- .

g tablished that after the project comes into ex-

o olution of traffic issues.T his is especially im-

k

š istence the state budget should collect in ad- i portant in order to achieve the goals raised M dition about 55 million Litas and about 1,300 by the White Paper recently approved by the Valčiūnai new work places should be created. European Commission. The said paper pre-

.

g scribes that by 2050 no cars driven by usual

s

e i fuel should be left in cities. “The implementa- t Cooperation with foreigners

o

t

S According to S. Stasiūnas, company special- tion of the intermodal terminal, the Logistics ists, cooperating with German and Italian com- Park and the entire PLC concept will impel to panies engaged in the development of West- carry more freight at longer distances by more

ė environmentally-friendly and more econom- k ern European logistics centres, have ascer- o V ical vehicles – trains, while short distances – . tained that the benefits of PLC are associated p u not only with income and creation of new work for distribution to retail trade centres inside places, but also with freight transportations by the city – could be run by small-size vehicles”, – said Stasys Dailydka, General Director of AB 0 1 2 3 4 km more environmentally-friendly and more eco- 1:30000 nomical vehicles. Purportedly, an assumption “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”. RAIL 13 New railway infrastructure and technologies Albinas Ragauskis Deputy General Director and Head of the Railway Infrastructure Directorate at AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”

Vaidotai Station. One of the station’s most im- portant performance indicators is the wag- on’s idle-time. In 2000, the wagon’s idle-time used to be 10.8 hours, whereas after the pro- ject has been implemented the idle-time of wagons has been reduced to 6.0 hours per day (per 24 hours). After a contemporary microprocessor- based rail-brake and hump-route manage- ment system and a new fully-automated speed control system have been introduced and adopted, the Vaidotai Station has a ful- ly-automated wagon marshalling process, i.e. dangerous and inefficient manual work has been abandoned; four new reception and re- lease roads have been constructed; the roads on the reception railroad as well as four re- ception and release roads have been extend- ed in order to enable the reception of trains of 6,000 tons in weight; environmental works have been implemented (an oil product trap system has been installed) as well as oth- er infrastructural components of this station have been modernised (equipment of points has been replaced, signalling equipment has been modified, radio connection as well as other equipment has been modernised). In order to ensure the competitiveness of Lithuanian railways in the East-West trans- portation market as well as to ensure the pos- sibility of admitting heavy goods trains, the roads on the 17th station of Corridor IX have been extended up to 1050 metres. With the purpose of continuing the mod- ernisation of the railway infrastructure, 33 projects are planned to be implemented in 2007-2013, with over 70 contracts having been concluded. The total value of all pro- jects is planned to be 1,732.9 million LTL,

andriaus ufarto / BFL / ufarto andriaus of which 1,468.5 million LTL are EU support

funds, which is three times more than intend- ed for the projects of 2004-2006. By 2015 it is planned to modernise the line Kaišiadorys- AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” (JSC „Lithuanian Railways“) from the very moment of its establishment has Kybartai (to renovate the railroads of the sta- been conducting a directional development based on long-term and short-term railway infrastructure tions by reconstructing 1 bridge and by ren- ovating the signalling system), to renovate renovation programs. For this purpose, since 1996 we have ready several feasibility studies, which the power supply system in the section Vilni- us-Kaunas, to modernise road structures and help to identify the most problematic spots in the railway infrastructure, to choose optimum solutions infrastructure on the line Klaipėda –Pagėgiai, thereto that would be beneficial to everybody, i.e. would ensure not only the railway development, to build the Vilnius Bypass (a secondary road, which will considerably increase the through- but also social benefits to the environment, business, and population. Each project undertaken by AB put and will allow freight trains to bypass the city of Vilnius) Kyviškės–Valčiūnai and “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” is first of all built on traffic safety assurance, on compliance with the Long-Term Pušynas–Paneriai, to modernise the Klaipėda Development Strategy of the Lithuanian Transport System, as well as on the principles of equality in node: to renovate railroads, viaducts, bridg- es, to increase its throughput, to set up sec- rights. From 1996 until 2011, 2.8 billion LTL had already been invested by AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” ondary roads – 5 segments of the section into infrastructure renovation. Šiauliai-Klaipėda, to reconstruct the currently demounted section Mažeikiai-v.s. (steading). In addition to the projects referred above, By making use of EU support, telecom- world that have introduced GSM-R. The GSM- er comfort of people travelling by railways. it is planned to update Traffic Management munication lines have been modernised, rail- R system is a mobile-communication system Enormous influence not only over the Systems as well as Railway Automation and roads (around 800 km) have been renovated, based on GSM standards, but is adapted to Lithuanian railway transport system, but also Power Supply Systems. To set up one of the the power supply, signalling and telecom- railways. It is one of the parts of the Europe- over the neighbouring countries using 1520 most advanced automation equipment sys- munication systems of Corridors IXB and IXD an Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), mm gauge railways, will be exerted by the tems – centralisation of traffic control (CTC have been modernised, 42 automatic roll- able to function independently as a means modernisation of the Vaidotai Railway Sta- – centralised traffic control). CTC enables to ing-stock control devices have been installed of communication, intended first of all for tion. The Vaidotai Station is one of the two connect individual section stations’ power- for assuring traffic safety, the Kaunas Railway the engine-driver of a running train to con- railway marshalling yards in Lithuania. Via plant centralising- and automatic track inter- Tunnel has been renovated, the Radviliškis tact rail traffic control staff. It will also be used the Vaidotai Station, cargoes are transport- locking equipment of into one system, which and Vaidotai Railway Marshalling Yards have when carrying out wagon marshalling/distri- ed from Belarus (Molodechno, Baranovichi) are managed and controlled from one centre, been modernised, the Lithuanian Railway Ra- bution-, shunting, railway road maintenance- in the directions of Kaliningrad and Klaipėda. which allows discarding railway traffic con- dio Communication System has been mod- and other works, which are performed in the Up to 70 percent of all the cargoes carried by trol operators in every station and according- ernised by introduction of GSM-R, the tracks ordinary course of railway business. This sys- Lithuanian railways are transported via the ly to reduce traffic management costs. of 17 stations have been extended. tem will also enable to arrange the transmis- Lithuanian railway infrastructure modern- sion of data from a running train, which, it is isation projects stand not only for renova- expected, will prompt the emergence of new In order to ensure the competitiveness of Lithuanian railways in the tion of physical tracks, their structures or fa- railway technological processes, as well as East-West transportation market as well as to ensure the possibility of cilities, but also for introduction of new ad- will contribute to the reduction of passenger vanced railway transport technologies. Lith- and freight transportation cost, by way of en- admitting heavy goods trains, the roads on the 17th station of Corridor uania is one of the first 20 countries of the hancing traffic safety and ensuring the prop- IX have been extended up to 1050 metres. 14 RAIL Main Investments of JSC „LITHUANIAN RAILWAYS“ December the 31st of this year marks the end of the term for implementation of financed projects of 2000-2006 period. A total of 1,4 billion Litas from European Union cohesion fund was successfully used for Lithuanian infrastructure projects. During 2000- 2006 over 20 important transport infrastructure projects were implemented, amounting to 2,2 billion Litas andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus

Electric Traction for Passengers ed with Klaipeda railway junction. Klaipeda rail- et times. It was meant to carry military freights way junction consists Pauoscio kelynas, Klaipeda, from USSR to East Germany. Since 1990 the sta- Lately more and more talk is being heard Rimkai, „Draugystes“ railway stations and roads tion provides services to sea freight ferries and about shorter railway trips between Vilnius and and roundabouts connecting them. ships from the whole World. During the last years Minsk. The distance between the two capitals is Klaipeda railway station and Pauoscio kely- the throughput of „Draugyste“ railway station is 205 km, but it took nearly four hours to cover it nas are to serve the Northern side of the port and 7,1 million. t of freights and the main types of by train. Already from June 2011 the journey by „Draugyste“ with Rimkai – the Southern part. freights are also established. The specifics of its train is shortened from 3 hours 51 minutes to 3 „By reconstructing the Klaipeda station‘s Pau- services changed after „Draugyste“ started pro- hours. The passenger control procedures in Gud- oscio kelynas it would make it unnecessary to viding services to companies established in the agojo (Belarus) and Kena (Lithuania) railway sta- send so many oil trains through the city itself“, – Southern part of Klaipeda, mainly „Bega“, „Klaipe- tions are being shortened, also there will be less said A. Ragauskis. dos Smeltė“, „Klaipedos konteineriu terminalas“, and shorter stops in Belarus railway stations. „215 million Litas. (182,8 million Litas from EU „Vakaru laivu gamykla“. 100 k passengers travel between Vilnius – Min- aid and 32,2 million Litas from the companys as- „Draugyste“ railroad station has arrival and skas each year. By evaluating this from the next sets) will be invested by 2015 to reconstruct the departure as well as gathering and let out tracks.

rto / bfl ufa andriaus year the procedures of simplified visa and bor- Klaipeda station and its supporting tracks. After The total number of tracks is 45. It is planned to der crossing are going to be applied for passen- the implementation of all the projects the freight reconstruct and lay down 28,47 km of railway gers living within 50 km distance to the border by Virgilijus Jastremskas head of the AB„Lietuvos gele- transport infrastructure will be enhanced, train track while implementing the reconstruction of both Lithuania and Belarus. After the Molodecno zinkeliai“ expansion department: „Alone the fact that safety raised and the possibility of spilling of the Draugyste railway station.. (Belarus) – Kena (Lithuania) – Naujoji Vilnia (Lith- the freight train „Viking“ line from Minskas to Kaunas fluid materials carried by rail in the city of Klaipe- While reconstructing Rimkai railway station it uania) electrification project is going to be im- da subsequently lowered.“, declares A. Ragauskis. is planned reconstruct and extend the tracks (to- will be electrified is going to be a big plus for Lithuanian plemented by the end of 2014, the trips should Sometimes there are issues between the rail- tal length of 7,7 km), lay down 19 new switches, railroads in the competitive fight for freights.“ become even shorter. We plan that the duration road business and inhabitants of the city because reconstruct two passenger platforms, build 149 of a trip between Minsk and Vilnius will be only of the forest that lies on the border. According to meter length of noise reduction wall, 8 search- two hours by 2015. It will become more desirable M. Jastremskis, it is up to the people of Klaipeda light towers, reconstruct rain and drainage sys- AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ used not just because of speed but also because more to decide what will their future look like: “We of- tem, reform the department of automatics, com- 592,1 million Litas in 8 projects. comfortable electric trains will be introduced. fered to move most of the work from the Klaipe- munication, electricity provision and construct The fact that contrary to the European common The implementation of electrification process da station to Pauoscio kelynas, because the city automatic switch heating systems. 1,4 – 1,8 k t freight trains, AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeli- will not only be useful for passengers who expect station is 130 years old and definitely too small Reconstructing the Klaipeda railway junction ai“ allows for 3–6 k t and saves about 30% of fuel, fast and comfortable trips but also for transporters for freight trains. There are not enough tracks and by 2015 should raise the annual throughput of compared to for example, „Latvian railroads“ is a and senders of goods through Lithuanian territory. means of infrastructure. We offered to plant new the port to 50 million t. sign of economic merit for our railroad company . Virgilijus Jastremskas head of the AB „Lietuvos trees in the would be abandoned zones of the After implementing the project „Lengthening gelezinkeliai“expansion department: „Alone the old station in exchange of the forest.“ of the IX corridor station runways“, 6 k. t weight- fact that the freight train „Viking“ line from Minskas Gold Medal for GSM-R ing trains can be accepted by Raudėnu, Duseikių, to Kaunas will be electrified is going to be a pig plus By the end of 2010 the earlier means of com- Telsiu, Tarvainiu, Sateikiu, Kulupenu, Kretingos, Ky- for Lithuanian railroads in the competitive fight for Stations to be Reconstructed munication that were uncertified and deemed viskiu, Kaisiadoriu, Gaiziunu, Radviliskio, Palem- freights.“ He also adds that Byelorussians have long „Draugyste“ and Rimkai are the main stations out dated by both EU demands and Lithuani- ono, Vilkaviskio, Kybartu, Vievio, Jonavos, Kazlu Ru- pondered which railway line should they electrify – in the Southern part of Klaipeda railway junction. an Communications Regulation Authority, were dos railway stations. All of them are located in cor- the one leading to Lithuania or Latvia. Not only AB By 2013 it is planned to reconstruct both stations changed by radio communication GSM-R, which ridors IX B and IX D leading through Lithuania to „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“, but also the port and many and invest 140 million Litas. „Draugyste“ railway received a gold medal in the competition „Lithu- Klaipeda and Kaliningrad ports. Those are priority companies would be the winners if Byelorussians station reconstruction started in 2009 and since anian Product of the Year 2010“. corridors with main freight trains activity. Accord- decided to send more freights and use the invest- then construction for 54,7 million Litas has been „I am happy that our efforts to work more ef- ing to the head of the Infrastructure department ments into electrification in that way. completed already. It is planned to start Rimkai fectively and lower the service expenses did not of AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ Albinas Ragauskis, station reconstruction in 2011. In 2015 the capa- remain unnoticed“, said the general manager of the infrastructure renewal projects are so intercon- Klaipeda Railway Junction bility of the route Radviliskis – Pagegiai – Klaipe- AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ S. Dailydka after re- nected that even if just one of them all is not im- One of the priority jobs for AB „Lietuvos da should be up to 15 million t. ceiving the award from Chairman of the Lithuani- plemented, the damage to others may be huge. gelezinkeliai“ are the many projects associat- „Draugyste“ railway station was built in Sovi- an Parliament, Mrs Irena Degutiene. RAIL 15 The Resurgent Dream of Tsar – Tunnel for Modern Trains 150 years ago the dream of Russian Tsar Alexander II was fulfilled – the Kaunas Railway Tunnel, set up as if in the picturesque Switzerland, has now resurged for a new life after the reconstruction that has taken two years. There again modern trains will hurtle down with high speed with their safety being assured by contemporary technology and engineering solutions. bfl

bfl

he idea of setting up an impressive tun- was sufficient for the entire tunnel to be con- project is 80 million LTL, of which 85 percent Tnel where impressions and pitch dark- structed, and today the same amount of time for the tunnel repair was allocated by the Eu- About the Kaunas Railway Tunnel ness would take the breath of the passengers was needed for setting up the tunnel in accord- ropean Union and the remaining portion – by The tunnel was started to be constructed on the 22nd travelling by train, which occurred to Russian ance with the contemporary technical require- the Government and the company AB „Lietu- of May, 1859, and was finished on the 1st of November, Tsar Alexander II on his trips to Switzerland ments without causing damage to the authen- vos gelezinkeliai“. 1861. It was built by the French company “Ernest Gpiun and other European countries, became a real- ticities of the old structure,” – the constructions The repair and designing works were un- et Cie”. The tunnel was started to be used in the spring ity in 1861. Just after a couple of years of con- taken place in different centuries are convivi- dertaken by the company “Kauno tiltai” and of 1862. ally compared by Albertas Šimėnas, Deputy by the railway repair company “Volkerrail Li- struction works, as if a surprise, the structure, In 1944, the German troop attempted at blasting the General Director of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”. etuva” belonging to the Netherlands Concern which was unusual on our land, was shown to tunnel, using seven wagons of trotyl for that purpose. A the Tsar on his way to Warsaw. The commence- “Volkerrail”, as well as by “Siemens” and “Kel- projektas”. huge explosion had deformed about 100 metres of the ment of its construction in 1859 coincided Attempted at Demolishing, but Failed tunnel. The Soviet army had rebuilt it in the same year. with the beginning of creation of railways in Their task was to renovate the railway con- This intricate and exceptional engineering structions, power-, signalling-, emergency In 1963, an accident of trains occurred in the tunnel, after Lithuania. Namely that year the first rails were structure is an integral part of the country’s laid in the railway tract segment Saint Peters- communication lines, to install new safety sys- which only one track was left here, while in 1968 the tun- railway history and of the present, which could tems, to refurbish lighting, to dismantle the ex- nel was electrified. burg – Warsaw. “There is a gap of just 34 years also have stopped existing. “As there were at- separating the beginning of Lithuanian rail- isting out-of-service tunnel drainage and wa- In 1972, tunnel repair works were performed – a support tempts at demolishing it or at stopping its op- ter collection system and to install a new drain- ways from the first steps of the global railway, eration, but it has withstood the trials of centu- arch was built in order to prevent the deformation of as in 1825 the first steam locomotive made in age system, which would collect not only the constructions. ries. And there no doubts arise as to its neces- ground water accumulating in the tunnel, but England successfully finished the short Dar- sity nowadays – Kaunas can be reached much In 1976, after collapse of water drainage systems, which lington and Stockton track. Therefore, it may also the water accumulating on the tunnel’s were installed under the rails, the speed of trains inside straighter and much faster when travelling vaults. In the winter of 2008, traffic movement be asserted that our country was not late to the tunnel was limited to the maximum 40 km per hour. through the tunnel. In some sense, it reflects in the Kaunas Railway Tunnel was stopped the “train of progress”, which allowed to get rid st the resistance of our whole transport industry and overhaul works were commenced. Damp On the 1 of February, 2008, the reconstruction of the of the status of the tsarist empire’s backwoods,” to the trials of the times”, – assures A. Šimėnas. places in the tunnel were hydro-insulated, tunnel was commenced. Tunnel height – 6.6 m, width – –Stasys Dalydka, General Director of AB “Lietu- In the July of 1944, the German troop, in its the vault was anchored and concreted, gan- 8.8 m, length – 1285 m. vos geležinkeliai”, reminds us the history. – “It retreat, blasted the tunnel using seven wag- tries were reconstructed, cable management is symbolical, but the Kaunas Tunnel resurged ons of trotyl for that purpose. But, in order to arms and video surveillance equipment were after 150 years sharply – in 2009. After the ren- sents the works. – “As the project is unique and ensure the communication needed for mili- mounted, as well as track installation works ovation, the tunnel has opened a new page in possesses the status of cultural heritage, all the tary operations, the Soviet army rebuilt it in were performed. As well, the contact line sys- its history – there have started running mod- works required an especially large amount of 40 days. It is also interesting that somewhere tem was fixed and fire protection systems were ern two-storey trains acquired by AB „Lietuvos professionalism and preparation”. from 1948 it underwent no more-serious re- installed. gelezinkeliai“ quite recently, but already liked pairs. Before World War II the Kaunas Railway According to him, certain new details of the by the passengers”. Tunnel was double-track, while after the war works emerged only after the project was com- According to experts, it is one of the most and to the present day – single-track. A Brain-Teaser for Engineers menced to be implemented; complex techni- unique structures of such nature in the Baltic The repair works of the Kaunas Tunnel were Rimantas Vagonis, Tunnel Repair Works cal engineering changes were made to it. countries to have received the status of cultur- commenced in the September of 2007, and Manager at the company “Kauno tiltai”, asserts After the reconstruction, the operation and al heritage. “In those times a couple of years finished in October this year. The value of the that the most intricate work was widening the maintenance of the tunnel will improve; the cross-section of the tunnel. “The upper part traffic safety of the trains and the speed of was not unearthed because residential build- their trip will be enhanced. The passengers of The construction of the Kaunas Tunnel, one of the most intricate ings are standing over the tunnel. When car- the trains hurtling down the tunnel will have railway objects, was commenced in the May of 1859 and finished in rying out the tunnel repair works, the Kaunas an opportunity at least for one moment to get Railway Tunnel was rearranged virtually fun- the feeling that once upon a time was perpet- the November of 1861. This is the first tunnel in the Russian Empire damentally, while a stretch of a hundred me- uated here from the Swiss mountains by Alex- and one of the first in Europe. tres was practically rebuilt,” – the specialist pre- ander II. 16 RAIL Travelling by train is safe, comf ortable and fast A spacious and light carriage. A cup of coffee on the table. You switch on a computer, look through the documents. If there is some time left, you look through the newspapers or read a book. When travelling on this train one does not become tired of a long trip and time is used efficiently. We talk about the novelties on AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ trains to Raimondas Burkovskis, Director of the Passenger Transportation Directorate of AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ .

What new international projects or novel- What is needed for a train to become an at- ties for passengers are being implemented tractive means of transportation for a dis- this year? tant journey? In co-operation with the railways of Bela- AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” makes big ef- rus, communication by trains between Minsk forts to develop and popularise the activity and Vilnius has been improved. It takes three of carrying passengers by railway. The aspi- hours to go from one capital to the other by ration to satisfy ever-growing needs of pas- two direct trains. It is planned to start com- sengers to reach their destinations as soon munication between Vilnius and Lyda in the as possible requires many investments from immediate future, after the border check- the Company. Passenger trains, carriages, sta- point in Stasylos railway station has been tions, platforms have changed, and the jour- equipped. ney by train itself has become much faster, The AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” routes Vil- more comfortable, and, first and foremost, nius–Moscow–Vilnius and Vilnius–Saint Pe- much safer. There are events or occasions terburg–Vilnius with a link to Lithuanian sea- when a train becomes the only means of shore and Kaunas have survived. Also, on the transportation, which can carry thousands of initiative of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” AB and participants at a time. These are Republican Kretinga Bus Park a joint route Vilnius–Kret- Song Festivals, large-scale sporting events. inga–Palanga–Vilnius has been opened and In these cases, having agreed with the or- this will allow people to reach the seashore ganisers of the events in advance, additional much easier this year. trips are planned, special trains consisting of twelve and more carriages are formed. Do you seek to attract more travelling hol- Large amounts are invested in reconstruc- idaymakers in summer or do you aim at tion of old and in purchasing new rolling people who constantly go by trains? stocks. During three past years, four two-sto- rey electric trains have been purchased; they Yes, for this reason travelling conditions have enriched the park of trains running be- for bicyclists have been improved. Also, the tween Vilnius and Kaunas. Also, twelve rail Passenger Transportation Directorate of AB buses have been acquired, which at the pre- “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” together with the Di- sent time run almost on all local communica- rectorate of Neris Regional Park signed a co- tion routes. By operating the new two-storey operation agreement. Attempts will be made electric trains available the Company ensures to popularise railway transport to Neris Re- more than half the routes Vilnius–Kaunas–Vil- gional Park therefore bicyclists from Vilnius nius, the remaining ones are serviced by old- and Kaunas to Lazdėnai station linking rail- er but modernised electric trains. In carrying ways with the Park or back, will be allowed to out the approved investment plans it is ex- carry bicycles for one litas only. pected to purchase five more new two-sto- Of course, we seek to achieve that the rey electric trains by 2015 and to service the number of constant passengers should in- route Vilnius–Kaunas–Vilnius with new trains crease. At the beginning of the year the loy- only. alty programme of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” By constantly renewing the train park was presented to passengers. Depending on and applying different measures of market- the chosen type of fixed or changeable dis- ing, in 2010, it was possible to keep the num- count, passengers pay from 2 to 5 per cent ber of passengers travelling by railway on lo- less. Both students and senior citizens (as cal routes at the same level, and this year an well as other residents of Lithuania speci- increase in the number of passengers has fied in the Law on Passenger Transport Priv- been observed. ileges) can make use of privileges to which the loyalty card entitles them since this dis- This increase, however, is noticeable when count and privilege is summed up. The card compared with the past year only. Mean- provides the possibility to make use of spe- while the long-term curve of the recent pe- cial campaigns intended for the participants riod shows a trend for constant decrease. in the loyalty programme. In 2010, for the first time, the Compa- There are many reasons for that. In 1988– ny organised a campaign for the passengers 1990, when the railway was still one of the who were going to the international mu- most popular means of public transport, sic festival „Tamsta muzika“ in Varėna. Those though the trip was not as comfortable then passengers who had a ticket to the festi- as it is today, the flows of passengers were val could travel by the third class local trains large. with a 50 per cent discount. Following this A lot has changed in the course of twen- successful experience, this year AB “Lietuvos ty years of independence. Many families have geležinkeliai” is going to co-operate with the acquired one or several motorcars there- organisers of the festival „Tamsta muzika“ and fore when they travel over short distances the organisers of other two international mu- they prefer going in their cars. A large part sic festivals. Passengers going to music festi- of employees of state institutions use of- vals will be offered a discount of 30–50% to fice cars. For this reason the number of pas- travel by trains. sengers who make use of services provided by the railway and buses has decreased, es- Raimondas Burkovskis, Director of the pecially during the past three years. Unem- ployment also has a negative effect. Because Passenger Transportation Directorate of of it the railway lost many of its former con- AB Lietuvos geležinkeliai“: “Our Company stant passengers who commuted to work on believes that in the future the principle will week-days from districts to larger towns. An- be followed that the railway is a viable means other reason is emigration due to which the of transportation in the sphere of carrying number of the country’s population has de- passengers, and is to be encouraged because creased considerably. of its attractiveness from the point of view of It is not only in Lithuania but also in ecology, assurance of safety, possibilities of the majority of the European Union coun- andriaus ufarto / BFL / ufarto andriaus solving traffic jams, etc. tries that carrying passengers by railways is unprofitable. Income of railway compa- RAIL 17 Travelling by train is safe, comf ortable and fast Road control machine EM140 presented The new purchase of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” (JSC „Lithuanian nies earned from the tickets sold to passen- it. Self-government regulates the proce- gers fail to cover expenses of carrying pas- dure of the city transport according to the Railways“) – the road control machine EM140 manufactured by the sengers, though in other EU countries the needs and possibilities. Distant communica- number of people travelling by trains is in- tion between regions and towns is a sphere Austrian Company Plasser & Theurer was presented at Vilnius Railway comparably larger than that in Lithuania. De- of business, which makes a living and prof- Station. Participating in the event were Eligijus Masiulis, Minister of spite the incurred losses, there are no plans it from the tickets sold to passengers. Self- to close down the unprofitable routes.T he is- government transport can hardly do with- Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania, the Director sue of compensating for losses is solved by out subsidies. signing agreements on public commitments If the state pays, it should co-ordinate General of AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” Stasys Dailydka, the Ambassador according to which losses incurred on carri- actions of public transport. However, each of Austria in Lithuania Dr. Helmut Bernhard Koller, representatives of the ers are compensated. In many cases the state municipality solves it own problems with- allocates large funds to cover the losses in- out seeing the whole. Usually transport Company Plasser & Theurer and other honorary guests. curred by carrying passengers by railways companies know the flows of their passen- and at the same time to encourage citizens gers or they carry out investigations, how- to make a wider use of services provided by ever, there is nobody to collect and gener- railway transport. alise the results and improve the scheme Still, some positive trends observed in re- of action of public transport of the entire cent years make us happy. Though the total country. number of passengers decreases, on some popular routes it is on the increase. For ex- Is it a difficult problem to solve? ample, in the direction of Vilnius–Kaunas and Other European countries have already back, about 2,6 thousand passengers travel gained experience in this sphere. A harmo- every day, and within a year their number to- nious activity of public transport has be- tals about a million passengers. come established in Germany, Switzerland Greater comfort at a lower price (as com- and the majority of other European coun- pared to bus fares) attracts people. Passen- tries a long time ago. For example, in Ger- gers appreciate novelties of railway transport many the largest flows of passengers are and gladly make use of them. Several years serviced by passenger trains only. You will ago the passenger transport park was badly never see any bus routes running along the worn out and out-of-date. Therefore during railway line. Passengers arrive from more the transitional period it was not expedient distant towns and settlements by busses to waste funds on minor improvements or re-

and other means of transportation. In this BFL organisation, which would have been tem- way interaction between different kinds of porary all the same. We relate essential re- transport is achieved. As the saying goes, newal, which is being carried out now, to the they feed one another and become co- purchase of the new trains. he self-propelled road control carriage rolling stock automatic control equipment workers rather than rivals. It is the passen- TEM140 is one of the most modern ma- (RAKP). ger who wins because finally everything is chines used to control railways. Its purpose is Thus far geometrical parameters of Lith- International routes of passenger trains done for his/her convenience and nobody is to measure geometric parameters of the rail- uania’s railways were measured using the from Lithuania run to the largest Russian forgotten. way in a non-contact, laser way. The reports road control carriage CNII-2 manufactured in cities of Petersburg and Moscow, and from about the actual condition of roads received Russia in 1960. In diagrams it recorded data there one can go to other countries and cit- Hence, we are coming close to the Swiss or will enable urgent solutions to be made. about the width of the track, the position ies of the CIS. Favourable conditions for German model? “A short time ago we could proudly state of rails with respect to one another accord- holidaymakers, tourist groups, for organ- that the Company AB „Lietuvos gelezinke- ing to the level of the railheads, local sags in We shall inevitably have to choose. There ising cognitive trips are created. Are these liai“ ran the most modern park of traction both rails, and the position of the rails in the is no other way out. We see serious rear- possibilities made full use of? rolling stocks in Eastern and Central Europe, plan. However, the road control carriage be- rangements in neighbouring Latvia. With and today again we are witnesses to a new came out-of-date, and technology of its op- The Directorate has concluded agree- the state budget being in a difficult situ- important event. This self-propelled road eration became primitive because measure- ments with some popular tourist agencies ation, there is a lack of funds for subsidies control carriage that complies with the Eu- ments were carried out in a contact way – operating in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and oth- to public transport. The crisis made us think ropean standards is another significant step with measuring wheels touching the inside er countries. Its aim is to provide as much as about a more rational use of public trans- towards seeking to bring the technical level edge of the railhead. This carriage recorded possible comprehensive information about port without doing harm to the passengers’ of infrastructure of the AB „Lietuvos gelezin- parameters being measured in tape self-re- train timetables, prices of tickets seeking to interests. get people interested, to attract more pas- keliai“ sector closer to the European level”, corders, which were synchronized with the said the Minister of Transport and Commu- rotation speed of the carriage wheels. When sengers who want to come to Lithuania. The railway (at least in Lithuania) is the More examples could be provided about nications Eligijus Masiulis when greeting the CNII-2 carriage was running through safest and most reliable means of public the participants in the event. the frogs recording wheels were removed the advantages of railway passenger trans- transport. Is it really so today? port, which, unfortunately, are not made full This road control machine will not be therefore distorted and non-ciphered re- use of. We do not seek after noisy advertis- Millions of people have made use of only able to record and make measure- cords were made on the tape. The condition ing in the strictest sense of the word in pub- services of railway transport during twen- ments in two directions but will also analyse of the road was assessed manually, and reli- lic transport where competition with other ty years of independence. However, there road parameters. The size control equip- ability of the final results of measurements means of transportation is not the most im- has not been a single case where a passen- ment enabling the machine to make meas- depended not only on the accuracy of the portant factor. However, the Directorate pays ger died or was injured due to a train ac- urements quickly and accurately is installed measurement but also on qualification and undivided attention to improving, develop- cident or some other troubles. We do not therein. Since EM140 mass is similar to that honesty of the workers. ing and perfecting information about pas- speak about the citizens who suffered inju- of a locomotive, this will enable road param- The new road control machine EM140 senger transport. With comprehensive infor- ries next to the railway or on the rails. The eters affected by loadings to be checked. Plasser & Theurer was manufactured with- mation available a passenger himself/herself reason is that they simply ignored all safe- “Road parameters according to which in two years – the purchase contract was will choose the variant that is most suitable ty rules though warning signs, information the road condition is established will be re- signed in March 2009. The purchase cost to him. about the zones of increased danger and corded in a computer in a digital way and almost 23,5 million litas. As much as 85 signalisation were in good working order at processed rapidly and qualitatively. Fur- per cent of this amount is financed from In what way actions of all kinds of pub- every level crossing, in all railway stations. thermore, using equipment of the road me- the 2007-2013 European Union Structural lic transport are harmonised and co-ordi- AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” hopes that in ter it will be possible to determine exactly Funds according to the measure “Modern- nated to ensure smooth functioning of the the future the principle will be followed that how much rubble a certain section of the isation and Development of Railway Lines system and achieving that competition the railway is a viable means of transporta- road needs. Also, special equipment will of Trans-European Significance, Creation of tion in the sphere of carrying passengers, enable to model how the condition of the Necessary Infrastructure to Establish Public should be replaced with co-operation? and is to be encouraged because of its at- road will change with the passing of time”, Logistics Centres”, the remaining part is fi- The train is not that means of transporta- tractiveness from the point of view of ecolo- Stasys Dailydka, Director General of AB „Li- nanced from the funds of railways. tion, which could service distant rural areas. It gy, assurance of safety, possibilities of solv- etuvos gelezinkeliai“, listed the advantages Acquisition of the road meter EM140 has to carry a lot of passengers. People from ing traffic jams, etc.T he Company is ready of the new purchase. marks the end of the first stage of the pro- smaller towns can reach a railway station by to fully renew the reduced number of train Equipment to check radio and GSM-R ject “Installation of Infrastructure Diag- buses or mini-buses. Unfortunately, thus far stops and transportation of passengers communication that is currently started to nostic Systems”. During other stages it is there has been no such co-ordination. Pub- along the routes that had been refused after be used in trains has been installed in the planned to install the polygonometric net- lic transport is given over into the hands of the economic-social situation in the country machine, there is a possibility to install for work, to purchase diagnostic facilities, ac- municipalities. Self-government is independ- changes and the need to expand passenger additional control road filming and rail pro- credit the laboratory of metrology and to ent, and the Ministry of Transport and Com- transportation services by railway is creat- file reading systems, checking facilities of acquire necessary software. munications has no levers of influence on ed. 18 RAIL Two-storey train linked two capitals AB „Lietuvos geležinkeliai“ allocates a lot of funds to purchasing new passenger trains and modernising the old ones. In the course of three years four two-storey electric trains EJ 575 were purchased, they enriched the park of trains that run between Vilnius and Kaunas. Every other train running between Vilnius and the former capital of the country Kaunas is a two-storey train. By 2015 AB „Lietuvos geležinkeliai“ will have purchased another five new two-storey electric trains. There will be no old trains left on this route. algio palionio algio

assengers appreciate the new trains – this Vilniuys by the first morning train on Monday, in the course of two years. “Most probably one predispose one very well psychologically”, rea- Pyear every month as much as 15 per cent and on Friday he returns to Kaunas. He can- can set his/her watch to exact hours accord- sons Kazys Starkevičius. By the way, he, like more passengers have been carried. AB „Lietu- not do without his wife’s help – on Monday ing to this train as in olden times”, says Ka- many passengers who save time, cannot un- vos gelezinkeliai“ hopes to carry over one mil- she takes the Minister to Kaunas railway station zys Starkevičius. An hour and ten minutes on derstand why the morning train stops on plat- lion passengers this year. During five months and on Friday evening she meets him there. a train pass very quickly for him – the Minis- form six rather than on platform one in Vilni- of this year half a million passengers travelled According to Kazys Starkevičius, as compared ter reads, talks over his mobile phone, switch- us. One of the greatest requests of the Minister by trains, and last year about 950 thousand with the old electric train between Kaunas and es on his computer, and finally takes a nap… of Agriculture Kazys Starkevičius would be to passengers were carried throughout the year. the capital, which he used to take quite often Of course, it would be really good if the trip build a parking lot next to the railway stations “After the new electric two-storey trains when he was a student, the new train is cosy, lasted a little bit less than an hour. “This would in Vilnius and Kaunas. between Vilnius and Kaunas started running, does not rattle, is warm, fast, therefore it is not travelling by train became much more con- surprising that the number of passengers on it venient than travelling by car. Also, it is one of is on the increase. “Every time I see the same the few steps toward implementing the idea of passengers but also there are many new fac- the bipolis because the activity that working es. Almost all seats are occupied on morning groups, services and commissions carried out trains. I notice young people on the train who in this sphere in the course of many years gave are preparing for their examinations – new no results,” says the resident of Kaunas Kazys generation of students choose the train. It is Starkevičius who has been Minister of agricul- very good that AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ gives algio palionio algio ture since 2008. different discounts to students, it understands He started travelling regularly by electric that every cent is expensive to young people”. two-storey train at the end of summer of 2009 The Minister is quite happy with the punc- when Kaunas tunnel was opened after repair tuality of the train – perhaps it was only twice works. The Minister usually leaves Kaunas for that he was late, though not very late, for work Two-storey electric train EJ 575 Main technical data of the train: – this is a novelty not only in Lithuania but also • Width of the track – 1520 mm; in the Baltic States and in the Eastern European • Maximum operating speed – 160 km/h. The economic result is achieved not only due to saving electric market. It is manufactured in the Czech Republic • Carriage container / centre load, t: engine energy. For example, the infrastructure fee is calculated taking into at the enterprise Škoda Vagonka a.s that belongs 71,4/17,9, coupled 45,4/11,35, coupled with the consideration the train mass – the heavier the train, the more it “breaks” control cabin 47,3/11,8; to the Company Škoda Transpotation. The electric the rails, more maintenance is required, which is very expensive. • Number of seats in carriages: engine – 53 (inclu- train consists of three carriages. There are as ma- Moreover, a new train is more reliable from the technical point of view, it ding 23 class I), coupled – 134, coupled with the ny as 304 seats on the train. control cabin – 117. is necessary to repair it much rarer. RAIL 19

Exporter of Two-storey train linked two capitals the Year – AB „Lietuvos We asked Dalijus Žebrauskas, Deputy Director for Commerce at the Passenger Directorate of AB „Lietuvos geležinkeliai“, if less than an hour long journey between geležinkeliai“ Vilnius and Kaunas is possible?

one will be able to enjoy a cup of coffee while travelling between Vilnius and Kau- nas.

What conditions are created for the dis- abled people on the train? Dalijus Žebrauskas. Disabled access ramps for people with movement disabili- ties are built on both sides of the train car- riages and inside carriages there are spe- cial places to fasten a wheelchair. Further- more, the train is equipped with special disabled toilets and all additional informa- tion is written in Braille for the blind peo- ple.

What possibilities do the two-storey trains offer for carrying bicycles? Dalijus Žebrauskas. There is place on the trains meant for carrying bicycles. Thus far we have not noticed any flood of bicy- clists. Bicyclists travelling in large groups should apply to us in advance – the train must not be delayed on their account, and the more bicycles the more time is re- quired to carry them onto the train. t is the fourth year in a row since 2007 Ithat AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ nom- What can you say about flexibility of the inates the “Lithuanian Exporter of the Year”. On 1 July, Stasys Dailydka, Direc- timetable? tor General of the Company, collected Dalijus Žebrauskas. The train timeta- the nomination “Lithuanian Exporter of ble is drawn up so that it should be con- the Year 2010” awarded by the Lithua- venient to the majority of passengers – nian Confederation of Industrialists. a fast train runs, which stops at the larg- In 2010, AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeli- est stations only, followed by an ordinary ai“ carried 48,1 million tons of freight, train that stops at all stations. And this or as much as 12.6 per cent more than continues all day in a row, almost every in 2009. Freights being imported con- hour. During the morning and evening stituted the largest part of freights rush hours the trains run a little more of- – 14,9 million tons and cargoes car- ten, and during the day – somewhat rarer. ried through the territory of Lithuania in transit totalled 14,4 million tons. As Concerts, performances usually start in many as 14,1 million tons was carried the evenings. Are the theatre-goers tak- along local routes and 4,7 million tons, andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus en into consideration when drawing up or 9.7 per cent of all cargoes transport- timetables? ed, was exported. The largest amount transported was Dalijus Žebrauskas. When concerts petroleum and petroleum products – Dalijus Žebrauskas. During the tests Workers of enterprises, business people – come to an end the last train along the 18,9 million tons, chemical and mineral new two-storey electric trains cover this people who might need to get in touch with route Vilnius – Kaunas – Vilnius has already fertilizers constituted 11,7 million tons, distance within 58–59 minutes. At first, somebody on the Internet, over the mobile left but organisers of mass events, for ex- mineral products accounted for 3,6 mil- ample, important football matches, are in- for several months, the train did not stop phone at any moment have come to like lion tons and ferrous metals totalled 2,4 terested in attracting as many people to at any roadside station, however, we no- the train. Is it possible to do that? million tons. ticed that there were not too many peo- them as possible. They appeal to us in ad- In 2010, AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ ple travelling between Vilnius and Kau- Dalijus Žebrauskas. One can use a com- vance and we simply postpone the depar- completed the project “Modernisation nas. And quite the contrary, the more puter, the Internet, the mobile phone on the ture of the last train to a later time. We can of Lithuanian Railway Radio Commu- stops the more passengers therefore at train. We do not use special communication assure you that during the European bas- nication System by implementation of ketball championship the fans will really the present time we stop and take pas- means which are necessary when the trains GSM-R”, which was awarded the gold be able to go by AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeli- sengers at the roadside stations. Never- run through long tunnels – the usual wireless medal by the Lithuanian Confedera- ai“ trains. theless, we did not refuse the idea of a Internet connection is enough. It goes with- tion of Industrialists in the competition fast train, which stops at the largest sta- out saying that there is a possibility to charge “Lithuanian Product of the Year 2010”. tions only – the train stops in Kaišiadorys, the battery of one’s mobile phone. When will it be possible to leave the car Also, signalisation facilities in the sec- Vievis, Lentvaris, wasting just some min- for a small fee near the railways stations tion Šiauliai-Klaipėda have been mod- utes on it, besides, before stopping it has And if the passengers get hungry? in the largest cities for a longer time? ernised, the Company has equipped to slow down. That is why this trip lasts a Dalijus Žebrauskas. Having carried out a Dalijus Žebrauskas. This service is re- the data centre, purchased 6 manoeu- little bit longer than an hour. The average number of tests it was established that train ally badly needed – we have heard many vre locomotives TEM18-TMX and mod- speed of the train is about 100 kilometres passengers did not get hungry within and times from the passengers who commute ern passenger rolling stocks. per hour. hour and some minutes. Of course, every- to work by trains that they cannot rely on The nomination “Lithuanian Export- To make the trains between these larg- thing depends on the appetite but most of- public transport. They would gladly go in er of the Year” is aimed at presenting est cities of the country run at 160 kilo- ten the passengers want to have a snack their own cars which, unfortunately, can- achievements of the country’s compa- metres per hour, this section should be within a couple of hours spent on the train. not be left near the railway stations for a nies in the sphere of export to a busi- reorganised in essence –the railway track Coffee, of course, is quite a different thing. I longer time because there is no parking ness society of Lithuania and the world, should be repaired, the bends straight- can make the passengers happy by saying lot intended for that. The duty of munic- encouraging Lithuanian manufacturers ened. This work is provided for in the that currently a special coffee machine in- ipal institutions is to find room to build and providers of services to increase strategic plans of railways. Then the trip tended for trains, which is not affected by vi- such parking lots because the borders of scopes of export, to implement state- along the route Vilnius – Kaunas – Vilnius bration, is being tested on one of the trains. If AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ end at the pave- of-the-art technologies, quality and would take about 45–50 minutes. it operates well and is in demand, of course, ment. management systems. 20 RAIL ONLY ONE LANGUAGE – THE LANGUAGE OF TRANSPORT – SOUNDS ON THE PLATFORM For Lithuania it is too early to compete with Germany or Holland in the field of intermodal transport, but the first steps have been already taken. The Lithuanian Intermodal Transport Technology Platform, which was established three years ago, aims at uniting the efforts of science, business and state authorities in the development of logistics and transport services, and encourages the efficient use of up-to-date scientific achievements in the field of transport as well as the improvement of interoperability between modes of transport. This organisation’s reporting and election conference held on the 30th of November has put forward the new guidelines for this important work. shutterstock

ccording to Stasys Dailydka, Chairperson achieved with regard to the establishment of be set up in Palemonas, would be recognised that’s why the European Commission financed Aof the Council of the Lithuanian Intermod- the Vilnius Public Logistics Centre. At the be- as an object of state significance, is being an- the Turkish transport experts’ visit in Lithuania. al Transport Technology Platform (LITTP) and ginning of the December of this year, it was re- alysed by the Ministries of Finance, of Justice, These experts have found us – the Lithuani- General Director of AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeli- solved that the founders of the Vilnius Public of the Interior, and of Economy, which should an Intermodal Transport Technology Platform ai“ (JSC „Lithuanian Railways“), the founding of Logistics Centre will be AB „Lietuvos gelezinke- shortly present their comments: either to ap- – on their own because they are willing to es- the platform has been determined by globali- liai“ and the Vilnius City Municipality. From the prove the construction of such object in Pa- tablish something similar thereto. Good exam- sation – it becomes more and more complicat- geographical point of view, the Vilnius Public lemonas, or not”, – says A. Mačiulis. If the pro- ples of intermodal transport can be found in ed for individual companies from one country Logistics Centre will be set up in an especial- ject receives no severe critics, the discussions Germany, Holland, but nobody has such or- to compete in the field of transport services; ly convenient location – near Vilnius, where continuing for several years might result in ganisation like ours, which would unite di- there is inter-competition among internation- approximately 40 percent of Lithuania’s GDP success, determining solid investments in Kau- verse modes of transport into one structure. al transport chains, and, in pursuit of compet- is produced, in the neighbourhood of Poland nas Region. Other countries have platforms, but they are itiveness of the national transport system, pri- and Belarus, which has no access to the Bal- S. Dailydka is convinced that the Vilnius and engaged more in the preparation of scientific ority is given to cooperation. tic Sea and is searching for appropriate ware- Kaunas Public Logistics Centres will provide in- programs, while our platform is oriented to re- From the very establishment of LITTP, there housing/storage space. The major advantage termodal transport with the necessary infra- lationships between different modes of trans- has commenced an active discussion on the of the Vilnius PLC is that it is near the Trans-Eu- structural and organisational possibilities. In port. The Turks visited AB „Lietuvos gelezin- matter of setting up public logistics centres. ropean Transport (road and railway) Corridor the logistics parks around the intermodal ter- keliai“, the Klaipėda State Seaport, freight for- There are no doubts that this has helped to IX, which connects the East and the West via minals there will settle private transport and warding companies and were wondering that adopt the decision on recognising the Vilni- the Port of Klaipėda, as well as near the Trans- logistics companies or operators related to everywhere one language – the language of us and Kaunas Public Logistics Centres (PLC) European Transport Corridor I, which connects these activities. transport – was spoken. The guests acknowl- as strategic objects and on putting the com- the Southern Europe with the Nordic States. edged that in Turkey it would be complicated pany AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ in charge of Besides, the Vilnius Southern Bypass will be International Partnership to establish such structure as LITTP,” – told A. their establishment as well as on putting the built leading to the PLC – there will be no ob- Šakalys. Klaipėda State Seaport Authority in charge of stacles for trucks to get through to the public According to Algirdas Šakalys, Executive The Turkish delegation was formed of the the establishment of the seaport’s public logis- logistics centre. Chairperson of LITTP, it is important not only representatives of this country’s railways and tics centre. “The business of the Kaunas Public Logis- to establish Public Logistics Centres, but also the Ministry of Transport. It paid a visit in Lith- Alminas Mačiulis, Chancellor of the Minis- tics Centre has also moved forward – the pro- to procure in advance what partners they will uania on the 18th–19th of October this year un- try of Transport and Communications, assures ject drawn up by the Ministry of Transport and have and how they are going to get interposed der the European Commission’s knowledge that so far the greatest progress has been Communications, whereby the Kaunas PLC, to within the network of logistics centres that are being developed in the Southern part of the exchange program. Baltic Sea. One more example of recognition of LITTP LITTP has from its very start paid much at- on international scale is participation of Dr. A. The Lithuanian Intermodal Transport Technology Platform is tention to international partnership, has es- Šakalys, Executive Vice-Chairperson of this or- formulating the transport research programme. It will embrace not tablished good relations with the European In- ganisation, in arranging in the US, Florida, the only intermodal research, but also the themes of priority research in the termodal Transport Association, and also is a international Intermodal Transport Confer- member of the new East and West Association. ence held on the 13th of November this year. fields of roads, railways, water transport, as well as urban transport and “Europe sees that we are on the way of There it was discussed how to create a glob- nature conservation. progress, and trusts us, – assures A. Šakalys, – al intermodal transport organisation such as RAIL 21 ONLY ONE LANGUAGE – THE LANGUAGE OF TRANSPORT – SOUNDS ON THE PLATFORM andriaus ufarto / BFL / ufarto andriaus

andriaus ufarto / BFL / ufarto andriaus andriaus ufarto / BFL / ufarto andriaus BFL / ufarto andriaus

Stasys Dailydka, Chairperson of the Council of the Lithuanian Intermodal Transport Technology Prof. Hab. Dr. Marijonas Bogdevičius, The Advisor to the Prime Minister of Vitas Volungevičius, Head of the Platform (LITTP) and General Director of AB Head of the Department of Transport the country Dr. Algirdas Šakalys Customs Activities Organisation Division: “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” (JSC „Lithuanian Technological Equipment of the Faculty of drew attention to the fact that we “I would like to emphasise that in Railways“), maintains that the founding of the Transport Engineering at VGTU, argues that have almost balanced rail and road intermodal transportations a huge platform has been determined by globalisation science must teach business and vice versa. freight transportation: 52 per cent of significance is borne by electronic data – it becomes more and more complicated for His idea is that higher education institutions cargoes is carried by road and 48 per interchange, which should take place individual companies from one country to compete prepare high-level specialists who, after cent – by railways. within the entire trade chain – from the in the field of transport services; there is inter- having been employed by transport business shipper to the consignee – as well as competition among international transport chains, companies, would further continue their among customs offices.” and, in pursuit of competitiveness of the national scientific works. transport system, priority is given to cooperation.

roadmen and aviators have. with the role of an intermediary. According about the goods to be imported into and ex- Bogdevičius has named the Association “Lina- Talking of the future, A. Šakalys emphasised to him, with international trade expanding, ported out of the Community’s customs terri- va” and the company AB „Lietuvos gelezinke- that we should close the ranks for the sake of more and more cargoes and goods are carried tory”, – said V. Volungevičius. liai“. The latter has signed cooperation agree- the intermodal transport node in the Baltic across state borders. The customs office takes According to him, customs officers feel ments with Vilnius Gediminas Technical Uni- Sea Region, especially that the European Inter- part in the international trade regulation and the pulse of business better than anyone else versity, Kaunas University of Technology, and modal Transport Association is promising its control activities by executing customs proce- and, by participating in the activities of LITTP, Vilnius College of Construction and Design. help in this field. “We will not do without the dures and other actions necessary for import are putting every effort in lending help to en- Cooperation is mutually beneficial.T he com- four logistics centres – it is very important that and export goods. Customs procedures are as- trepreneurs with their knowledge in order to pany places orders for the university every the Public Logistics Centres emerge not only sociated with a certain procedure for carriage, eliminate any interferences in the trade chain year to conduct several scientific works nec- in Vilnius and Kaunas, but also in Šiauliai and storage or use of goods within the customs so that cargo flows could cross the borders of essary for solving railway transport issues; stu- Panevėžys. territory. The provisions of customs legislation states more speedily. “Experts of the Lithuani- dents perform their industrial practices in the At the present moment, LITTP is preparing applied in EU are rather complicated, covering an Customs Office are working in the Ukraine railway industry. Besides, AB „Lietuvos gelezin- the concept of the Green Corridor, which the a large territory and different customs, trade for a couple of years already, consulting their keliai“ helps to set up at educational institu- Ministry of Transport and Communications will and common agricultural policy. Administra- colleagues on various matters of customs ac- tions the laboratories that are needed for stud- shortly introduce to the Government. Interop- tions of customs offices have powers that no tivities. We have explained to the Ukrainian ies, or provides the necessary equipment. erability between diverse modes of transport other state institution has. In accordance with customs officers that inspecting every con- Quite recently, the Technical Council’s is most important in the implementation of appropriate legal acts, the customs office can signment is useless work as it is stopping the meeting discussed and considered the sci- the European Union’s intention to develop the demand information to be provided about car- trade between the countries; therefore, we entific work prepared by VGTU on the sub- “green” transport corridors, which cause least goes being imported, transported through the have proposed to modernise customs admin- ject “Forecasts of Freight and Passenger Trans- damage to the nature. When developing the country or exported; therefore, in order to op- istrations and to apply automated risk man- portation Volumes of AB „Lietuvos gelezinke- “green” transport corridors, of great impor- timise the security of the international goods agement systems”, – said V. Volungevičius. liai“, where the railway strategy and develop- tance are the services of AB „Lietuvos gelezin- chain, simultaneously assuring the simplifica- ment directions as well as the weaknesses and keliai“, which transports huge quantities of car- tion of trade, a more general attitude is need- In Cooperation with Scientists strengths, opportunities and threats of the go at various distances. ed. It is necessary to encourage the partici- railway transport, are reviewed. In the compa- pants of the logistics chain to enter into co- How to connect science, business and ny management’s opinion, the forecasts pro- Customs Officers Feel the Pulse of operation agreements with state authorities studies? How to stir up the partnership be- duced by the authors of the study are found- in other countries on the possibility of sharing tween business and science so that more ben- ed, and the fundamental factors affecting the Business electronic information. An example of smooth efits could be brought to the country’s econ- volumes of freight and passenger transporta- Aloyzas Kuzmarskis, President of the Lithua- cooperation can be that the Lithuanian Cus- omy? It is an everlasting question which has tion by railways have been determined. nian Stevedoring Companies’ Association, who toms Office has the possibility of connecting been tried to be answered by all the genera- On the company’s order, the Kaunas Univer- conducted the reporting and election confer- to the information system “Krovinys” (Cargo) of tions using the possibilities available in their sity of Technology has conducted the studies ence of LITTP, emphasised that an important AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ and to the informa- times. Prof. Hab. Dr. Marijonas Bogdevičius, “Reducing the Effect of Uneven Magnetisation role in the platform’s operation is played by tion system “KIPIS” of the Klaipėda State Sea- Head of the Department of Transport Tech- of Rails Interfering with ALS Equipment”, and state authorities – the Ministries of Transport port. AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ successfully nological Equipment of the Faculty of Trans- “TAF TSI (Technical Specifications for Interop- and Communications, of Foreign Affairs, and utilises the possibilities of applying simplified port Engineering at VGTU, argues that sci- erability for Telematic Applications for Freight) of Finance. “If not the active and benevolent procedures. This allows settling much faster ence must teach business and vice versa. His Analysis”. activities of these authorities, it is doubtful if the customs formalities for the goods carried idea is that higher education institutions pre- The Lithuanian Stevedoring Companies’ As- we had such good relations with Belarusian, by the train Viking from Lithuania at the Lithu- pare high-level specialists who, after having sociation has signed cooperation agreements Ukrainian, Russian entrepreneurs, colleagues anian and Belarusian frontier at the Kena Rail- been employed by transport business com- with Klaipėda University and other education- in the field of transport. A unique example of way Post. “I would like to emphasise that in in- panies, would further continue their scientif- al institutions. “We endeavour to set up labora- how business has found accord with state au- termodal transportations a huge significance ic works. Based on M. Bogdevičius’ estimates, tories, and help to procure equipment”, – said thorities is the train Viking which crosses the is borne by electronic data interchange, which the number of doctors of sciences working in A. Kuzmarskis. Lithuanian and Belarusian border in 30 min- should take place within the entire trade chain the transport sector in Lithuania is barely one In M. Bogdevičius’ opinion, the LITTP’s utes”, – said A. Kuzmarskis. – from the shipper to the consignee – as well hundred and a half, whereas in the chemical structure lacks an operational scientific group, Vitas Volungevičius, the Head of the Cus- as among customs offices. By the way, as of the industry – several thousands. formed of representatives from several nation- toms Activities Organisation Division, stressed 1st of January, 2011, persons must provide to As good VGTU partners, assisting in the al universities, which would assess the plat- that customs officers are left in the trade chain the customs office prior electronic information development of the transport science, M. form’s decisions, strategy. 22 RAIL Dynamic Business of Lithuanian Carriers–Like Market Barometer Business activities of carriers involved in international shipping is like a litmus paper of national economies showing which markets are first to recover after the crisis. It was the previous year that the trade among major countries-manufacturers saw much more action, and it offers a promise of getting even more intensive this year. The National Road Carriers’ Association „Linava“ observes that the working environment of transport companies also undergoes changes due to new market conditions.

fices and carriers’ associations’, says Algiman- tas Kondrusevičius, President of the Associa- tion Linava. Electronic border crossing procedures are introduced closely collaborating with the EU and member states of the Eastern Customs Un- ion, and there is a constant search for optimal solutions of easing and speeding up the work of carriers while crossing the border. The pre-declaration module TIR-EPD devel- oped by the International Road Transport Un- ion (IRU) intended for customs institutions of the European Union that was launched the previous year is one of the best examples. The TIR-EPD module is not only used by customs offices and carriers in the EU states but also by transport companies in the neigh- bouring countries involved in the TIR system. The analysis carried out by the TIR Department of the Association Linava shows that border in- spections of carriers from these countries last from 5 to 10 minutes and significantly short- en outage of these carriers at the EU border check-points. Cheaper TIR Carnet The last year’s IRU congress continued to deal with the issues of the implementation of the pilot TIR carnet project in our association. Today the system is about to be launched, and the new carnet is known to cost 165 litas–– cheaper by a third compared to an ordinary TIR carnet. ‘This project is critical in several as- pects. First, with regard to the proper use of a simplifiedT IR carnet, our carriers will make savings. Secondly, enjoying a more active par- ticipation in the IRU policy formation process- es, Linava will gain more influence and will get an opportunity to participate in a more effec- tive way in decision making that is important to our carriers’, claims Kondrusevičius. Work Getting Harder Improvement of business conditions and climate as well reduction of tax burden is one of the key policies of the Association Linava. According to Vidmantas Adomaitis, Gen- eral Secretary of the Association Linava, the first thing is to set favourable business condi- tions for carriers. ‘The members of the associ- ation are the most potent segment of trans-

algio palionio algio portation, which, however, has encountered a

lot of challenges since many companies have stepped down and the ranks of our members have shrunken. The issues have also been re- ith economies rising, carriers are the first trucks with the right to engage into interna- turn. Today trucks owned by the companies flected in the activities of the association.W e to spot an increase in the number of or- tional cargo shipping, whereas at the begin- that are members of the Association Linava W have enough financial resources, competence, ders, and their job is to maintain vital arteries ning of 2009 their numbers exceeded 26,000. are also employed in domestic routes in West- and know-how to defend the interests of car- of exports and imports as well as to deliver car- With the global economic setback, the num- ern Europe and strategic East-West transports riers on the international and domestic level’, gos to the leading markets of Europe and East- ber of trucks rapidly decreased in Lithuania. corridors. ern countries. As of 1 January 2010, 20,000 trucks of this cat- says Adomaitis. It is five-year economic upturns and down- egory had remained but as the economy is With the start of the economic crisis, the is- falls in transport business that are best reflect- about to gather momentum, a rapid growth Markets Under Change sue of the rate of excise duty for diesel fuel be- ed by the number of trucks involved in inter- in the heavy-truck fleet is expected. Howev- The phenomena of the global economic came relevant. The interests of carriers were national shipping. Following the accession er, it is also clear that the carriers’ fleet had crisis had some impact on state policies, and emphasised while signing the National Agree- to the EU, Lithuanian carriers owned 12,000 grown twice during the first economic up- different border crossing restrictions, ‘black ment. Unfortunately, carriers’ proposal con- lists’ of transport companies or the problems cerning the partial return of excise for diesel of permits have become common business fuel to commercial road transport companies, ‘The Association Linava has developed quite an effective system issues for shipping companies. ‘The associa- as of 1 January 2011, has not been taken into tion has developed quite an effective system account. ‘The association continues to work on of cooperation and, first of all, that of communication with the of cooperation and, first of all, that of commu- this issue, and we hope to reach agreements ministries of transport in the neighbouring countries as well as nication with the ministries of transport in the to ensure better conditions for carriers’, claims customs offices and carriers’ associations’. neighbouring countries as well as customs of- Adomaitis. RAIL 23 QUICK START OF EAST-WEST TRANSPORT CORRIDOR 2 PROJECT By implementing „East-West transport corridor II“ project it is planned to increase freight flows between Southern Baltic states through Lithuania, Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, Kuakas, Central Asia, China and countries of far East by using advantages of intermodal transport. Project partners are Swedish, Danish, German and Belarusian science and state institutions and business organizations. Main project partner is administration of Swedish Bekinge region. bfl

roject will be implemented within EU Future tasks Shuttle trains vices along the East-West transport corridor. transport politic stressing importance of The accession to the European Intermod- P All other tasks are more specific and com- formatting “Green transport corridors” con- There are different standards, different servic- al Association (EIA), the participation in Lithu- plements mentioned task. „Shuttle trains from ception which is giving priority to railway es are being offer in regard to legal base of dif- anian Prime Minister’s Working Group, which Klaipėda/Kaliningrad towards East“, which is transport as one of most ecological and eco- ferent countries and different IT systems are be- is supporting the project ,,East-West Transport being implemented by JSC “Lithuanian rail- nomical transport means and to sustainable ing installed on railway sector in each coun- Corridor II” and participation in the activity of ways and its main goal is to analyze new logis- integration of all transport modes. Due to try. Therefore there are different railway models Lithuanian Intermodal Transport Technology tic schemes and launch of new shuttle trains. high importance of railway transport to crea- in every country of East-West transport corridor. Platform (LITTP) - all mentioned factors are The company is already analyzing possibilities tion of “green corridors” a separate set of task This task is unique as to achieve goals it is crucial promoting the development of railways trans- to develop shuttle train “Viking” and to launch have been created which is called “Develop- to integrate interaction of different service mod- port sector, efficient synergy among transpor- new trains from Klaipeda towards Russia, Ka- ment of railway transport business opportu- els of railway transport sector on methodological tation types along international freight corri- zakhstan and other destinations. Due to con- nities”. level. In order to achieve this it is important to dors, raising the competitiveness of those cor- tinuous increase of containerization a future JSC “Lithuanian railways” have been assigned identify the “bottlenecks” on East-West transport ridors and amounts of freights. for intermodal shuttle trains is very bright es- responsible for this set of tasks. In addition to corridor and to make an action plan to eliminate We hope that the East-West Transport Cor- pecially if we look at Chinas interests in a con- that the company is responsible for imple- them. For implementation of this task JSC “Lithu- ridor Association will be effective coordina- text Asian-Europe trade. menting three out of seven sets of tasks in anian railways” is cooperating with project part- tion center for freights movement along cor- total including “Creation of common railway ners, railway transport companies of neighboring ridor. This center will improve the quality of transport conception”. Main goal of this task countries and freight forwarders. The company is Improving services transportation services, remove existing “bot- is to create a conception of smooth and con- a member of a special initiative group created to Entire company’s investment activity, mod- tlenecks”, initiate effective schemes of logis- tinuous freight transportation on East-West establish “East-West transport association”. Imple- ernization of infrastructure, rolling stock, signal- tic services and ensure competitiveness of the transport corridor and to make an action plan mentation of this task preconditions increase of ing and communication systems, establishment East-West transport corridor in the interna- for its implementation. railway freight flows by Lithuanian territory. of freight villages improve the quality of rail ser- tional logistic networks.

Helsingborg

Baltijsk

Here are the old (red) – and the new (green) – east-west transport routes from a global perspective. The Green Corri- dor between Esbjerg and Vilnius is a natural part of a greater context, which ties together commerce in the world. 24 RAIL The White Paper dictates am bitious plans to railwaymen The European Commission is working on the 2011 White Paper on the transport policy in which, apart from other ambitious plans, the plan of a single European transport area based on the competitive transport system that uses effective energy resources will be drawn up. On the basis of the current guidelines of the document, more cargoes should be carried by more ecological railway and marine transport, new measures to reduce transport pollution and assure mobility of the inhabitants should be implemented. Before the White Paper becomes obligatory to all Member States, discussions on this theme never end.

as how to use the transport sector as efficient- ly as possible and how to strengthen it. The transport area is assessed in a much broader sense in the White Paper being created orient- ing oneself towards the long-term perspective – the year 2050. “Earlier goals are still in effect – the conception of transport as the econom- ic element remains, however, greater atten- tion is drawn to the problems created by trans- port to people, the environment and the state. Conceptions of transport for business and transport as business appear. The conclusion is drawn that EU economy with the integrat- ed system of transport can be competitive in the world”, stated the guest from the Europe- an Commission. The sustainable transport system is he White Paper consists of the vision, and are not ready for that yet. Seeking to optimise the performance of lo- not available yet Tten goals – progress assessment criteria. It Another, less drastic goal that is none the gistics chains it is sought to implement mod- According to the Minister of Transport and is divided into four target areas, 40 specific ac- less difficult to be implemented is to ensure ern air traffic control infrastructure (SESAR) in Communications Eligijus Masiulis, this White tions to implement the initiatives. According that by 2050 sustainable fuels, which emit a Europe by 2020 and to create a single Europe- Paper is a new challenge not only to Lithua- to Gražvydas Jakubauskas, Head of the Inno- small amount of carbon dioxide used in the an aviation area; to implement respective road nia but also to entire Europe. It gives a mean- vations and Development Division of the Min- sector of aviation should account for as much and water transport control systems (ERTMS ing to the new attitude to the development of istry of Transport and Communications of the as 40 per cent; also, by 2050 to reduce the (European Rail Traffic Management System), the transport system. Transport in Europe is Republic of Lithuania, thereby this document amount of CO2 emitted in the EU sector of ma- ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems), SSN becoming not only a tool of mobility or mov- it is sought to reduce the amount of emitted rine transport by as much as 40 per cent in- and LRIT (Long-range Identification andT rack- ing. “Transport is becoming not only the guar- pollutants by as much as 60 per cent. The Euro- cluding bunker fuel (if possible by as much as ing), RIS (Routing Information Service)); to im- antor of the economic development but also pean Commission proposes the following pri- 50 per cent). plement the European global navigation satel- the critical element of a modern city. “Why crit- orities: to use less and ecologically cleaner en- The most widely discussed and contradic- lite system GALILEO. By 2020, it is planned to ical?” If it is impossible to put a stop to a neg- ergy, to encourage harmonious mobility hab- torily valued, especially by road carriers, is the establish the framework of the European mul- ative impact of transport on traffic jams, traffic its, especially in town. The European Commis- goal to achieve that as much as 30 per cent timodal transport information, management events, air, and noise or pollution of all anthro- sion admits that it is becoming too expensive of road freight over 300 kilometres should be and payment system. pogenic environment that surrounds us, this to maintain transport infrastructure. shifted to other modes of transport by 2030 – Summing up his insights, the Head of the becomes one extreme; if we use transport for to railway or water transport, and by 2050 this Innovations and Development Division of the harmonious movement of the city, residents The play is good but it is difficult to figure should exceed 50 per cent. It is a great Ministry of Transport and Communications of of the city, use it for systematic urban plan- perform it challenge to entire Europe. the Republic of Lithuania Gražvydas Jakubaus- ning, create the quality of life and find balance Furthermore, the European high-speed rail kas stated that the new EU transport policy in the transport system, we reach another ex- It is proposed to drastically reduce envi- network is planned to be completed by 2050, was too ambitious from the ecological point of treme. Finally, we have the document, which ronmental pollution caused by the means the length of the existing high-speed rail net- view. Transport infrastructure is the essential reveals all peculiarities of transport: both pos- of transportation by using and creating new work to be tripled by 2030 and a dense net- basis for sustainable and effective transport itive and negative, and offers us to accept an kinds of sustainable fuels and driving systems; work of railways to be maintained in all Mem- system. However, the document does not pro- ambitious vision. At the same time the Euro- by optimising the performance of logistics ber States. By 2050, the majority of medium- vide for the measures intended for improving pean Union tries to solve another issue: how chains of multimodal transportation and by distance passenger transport should be car- to engage town self-governments in the pro- accessibility of peripheral EU territories. “The increasing the efficiency of the use of trans- ried by rail. cess of the White Paper. Are self-governments play is good, it is interesting to read it but it will port and infrastructure. These abstract goals The European Commission set more goals ready for the so-call policy from above in the be really complicated to stage a performance are made more concrete by figures: by 2030 it to the transport sector related to optimisation name of ecological objectives of society?”, the according to it… The holds true for assign- is sought to reduce the use of motor-cars run of performance of logistics chains. For exam- Minister posed many questions to himself and ing the roles…”, spoke Gražvydas Jakubauskas on usual fuels in cities by as much as twice, ple, to complete the TEN-T “core network” by society. ironically. and by 2050 to achieve that there will be no 2030; to connect all core network airports to Marcel Rommerts, Principal Administra- such motorcars left in the cities. The majori- the rail network by 2050; and all seaports – to tor of the Directorate-General for Energy and Railwaymen are not too happy ty of the European Union countries state that the rail freight and, where possible, to the in- this is a too ambitious goal and modern cities land waterway system. Transport in the European Commission, noted Sigitas Kubilis, Deputy Head of the Tech- that the White Paper issued in 1992 was main- nical Development Department of AB „Lietu- ly oriented towards the open transport market vos gelezinkeliai“, denied the opinion that AB Another none the less ambitious and perhaps scarcely achievable goal is – liberalisation of the transport sector. In 2001, „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ are happy about the when creating the new White Paper, the Mem- White Paper which contains the provision that to ensure almost complete road safety by 2050. EU expects the number ber States paid most attention to the possibili- a part of road fright should be shifted to rail of road traffic victims to decrease by half by 2020. ties of the European network of transport, such transport. In his opinion, apart from attractive RAIL 25 The White Paper dictates am bitious plans to railwaymen goals and slogans the document does not con- White Paper, Sigitas Kubilis sees positive plicated rules for competition and structures transportation is almost balanced in our coun- tain specific measures, which would help rail- changes in the White Paper. One of them is controlling adherence to these rules would try: 52 per cent of cargoes is carried by road waymen work more efficiently and become the aspiration to create conditions for effective disappear. and 48 per cent – by railways. During certain more competitive. competition between different kinds of trans- quarters statistics changes in favour of rail- The White Paper identifies railways as prior- port. Its main condition is to assure the imple- Reaction is different ways. Moreover, many cargoes are being car- ity transport, plans to increase scopes of car- mentation of the principle of taxation of trans- ried over distances shorter than 300 kilome- rying cargoes and passengers by railway. “In port infrastructure “the user pays” both in rail- The first reaction of EU members on seeing tres. essence this trend was already established in ways and in competing transport. In Sigitas the conception of the White Paper was contra- On the other hand, our country has done a the White Paper issued in 2001. Nonetheless, Kubilis’ opinion, proper taxation of transport dictory. One thing is clear – this is one of the lot according to the recommendations put for- it should be admitted that during the recent infrastructures all over the entire EU territory most ambitious documents of the EU political wards in the 2001 White Paper to shift cargo decade the measures proposed by the Europe- would resolve many problematic issues of the agenda. flows from road transport to railway transport, an Commission were not effective and railway transport market, would decrease the need for The Advisor to the Prime Minister of the especially in the East – West direction. “May- transport failed to increase the scope of trans- funds for roads, would allow pedantic regu- country Dr. Algirdas Šakalys, when assessing be now those countries should try to do their portation and the market share, and in some lation of performance or interaction of sepa- the aspirations laid down in the White Paper best which carry 17 per cent or even less car- places the market share occupied by railways rate kinds of transport to be refused, the need from the point of view of a scientist, drew at- goes by railways. The same directives cannot has even decreased. It has to be stated that the for the European Commission to create com- tention to the fact that rail and road freight be applied to those states, which have already 2011 White Paper does not contain real meas- achieved normal balance in carrying cargoes ures to increase efficiency of the railway trans- by road and railway and sea”, Algirdas Šakalys port sector either, some measures specified expressed his insights. therein raise serious doubts”, states Sigitas Ku- Prof. Rimantas Rudzkis drew attention to bilis and points to concrete drawbacks of the the fact that Lithuanian people faced far minor White Paper. ecological problems than did the EU old-tim- The example is the development of rail- ers, however, we had a larger number of more way infrastructure and assurance of its financ- serious problems than Western Europe in the ing. The White Paper clearly specifies that it is economic sphere. The impact of transport on necessary to develop railway infrastructure. It Lithuania’s economy is enormous: it is as many is especially important in Lithuania. Since the as 2,7 times greater by weight in the structure re-establishment of the Independence of Lith- of GDP than that in EU. Huge flows of goods uania we have not only built new railway lines cross our country. The transport sector in the but we have not had sufficient resources to re- structure of GDP is similar to that in Latvia and new the existing infrastructure. We have lots of Estonia. As compared with other branches of worn-out roads, it is necessary to increase per- economy, transport in Lithuania finds itself in missible train speed, increase permeability of the third place. Manufacturing industry and bfl infrastructure. It was only in recent years, after commerce take the first place.T ransport ex- receiving the European Union Structural Funds port accounting for 60 per cent of the total ex-

andriaus ufarto / BFL / ufarto andriaus port dominates in the sheet of transport ex- support, that the infrastructure modernisa- Alminas Mačiulis, Director of Transport tion programme has gathered full speed. Am- Investment Directorate: “The business of the port. “The fact that Lithuania’s economy ex- bitious projects have been started to be car- Kaunas Public Logistics Centre has also moved Sigitas Kubilis, Deputy Head of the Technical perienced something of a revival in 2010 is a merit of performance of manufacturing indus- ried out. However, the further perspective of forward – the project drawn up by the Ministry Development Department of AB „Lietuvos try and transport”, stated the Professor. financing the development of railway infra- of Transport and Communications, whereby the geležinkeliai“, denied the opinion that AB To reduce CO emission in the sphere of structure is absolutely unclear. 2 Kaunas PLC, to be set up in Palemonas, would be „Lietuvos geležinkelia“ are happy about the White transport we shall have to develop railway It is planned to allocate as much as 1,7 mil- recognised as an object of state significance, is Paper, which contains the provision that a part and marine transport. In the opinion of Riman- lion litas of EU structural funds to the railway being analysed by the Ministries of Finance, of of road fright should be shifted to rail transport. tas Rudzkis, it would hit our economy severely infrastructure of Lithuania for this period of Justice, of the Interior, and of Economy, which therefore the Government and separate Min- financial programming.T his is really a large In his opinion, apart from attractive goals and istries should negotiate on certain support or amount of funds. However, the plans of AB should shortly present their comments: either slogans the document does not contain specific exceptions for Lithuania, having in mind the „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ contain infrastructure to approve the construction of such object in measures, which would help railwaymen work specificity of our transport sector. projects whose total value exceeds 900 million Palemonas, or not.” more efficiently and become more competitive. litas, and EU funds allocated to Lithuania will definitely be not enough to implement them. Perhaps a part of the projects will be post- poned to another financial period, that is, after IT Systems–Valuable Tool for Increasing Transport 2014. These are important projects, for exam- ple, building of the second railway road in the direction of Klaipėda, the reconstruction of the System’s Competitiveness line Vilnius – Kaunas aimed at increasing the neighbouring countries that would provide train speed up to 160 km/h. services to the transport and logistics sec- tors. Therefore, we collaborate with our for- Regional specificity eign partners on the implementation of mu- Sigitas Kubilis drew attention to the fact tual projects both on the regional level of the that speaking about both financing infrastruc- Baltic Sea and on a wider scale. ture and other principles of importance to Here I would particularly wish to single out railways, the White Paper fails to mention the the two projects in which the representatives specificity of transport sectors of separate re- of both transport industry and Lithuanian ac- gions, including those of Lithuania and other ademic institutions take active participation. shutterstock Baltic States, which exert an essential impact The first is the current development project of on the goals set to the transport sector of a the East West Transport Corridor in the south- separate region, and the measures used to in- roviding assistance to business and pub- liest possible time from closed information sys- ern part of the Baltic Sea (EWTCII) co-financed crease the efficiency of transport of the region. Plic organisations as well as creating shared tems enjoyed by one organisation or a single by the EU Baltic Sea Region Fund. In respect of It is obvious that AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ in- information space to allow better intercom- cluster of organisations to information systems the project framework, there is an objective of dicators of carrying cargoes are much better munication and to concurrently increase that effectively interact with their counterparts. developing a common information brokerage than those of the railways in the Western Euro- transport and logistics system’s competitive- The State Seaport of Klaipėda has the infor- system to produce the conditions for informa- pean countries – we have already achieved the ness is one of the key objectives pursued by mation system KIPIS installed, which is intended tion exchange among the leading transporta- goals that the White Papers set for 2030 and the Lithuanian public authorities, transport for information exchange between business and tion and logistic companies and transport in- even for 2050. Meanwhile the role of AB „Li- associations, and their confederations. One of public institutions and is a good example of what tersection in the region. etuvos gelezinkeliai“ in the sphere of passen- such confederations is the Lithuanian inter- has been done in this field. And these activities Another is the eMAR project financed from ger service is still quite poor. Hence, to increase modal transport technological platform. are still on the go. The ambition of accomplish- the EU FRAMEWORK 7 programme funds, the efficiency of AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“, IT application in the transport and logis- ing imports, exports, and transit formalities by the principal goal of which is information ex- measures that are somewhat different from tics sectors is currently under a rapid devel- employing the ‘one-counter’ principle in the East change system development between sea those used in the Western European countries opment. Planning of transportation, manage- West Transport Corridor that crosses the coun- transport and other types of transport. are needed. Railwaymen see a threat that the ment, route planning, management of stor- try’s territory is another ambitious goal for us. Finally, I would like to wish good luck to European Commission, in initiating new legal age facilities are the fields to apply innovative Taking into consideration the fact that our the participants of the joint event of the IRU acts to implement the provisions of the White IT systems to a greater extent. Such IT sys- country is a small one and that even transport and regional carriers’ association in their work. Paper, like at the present time, will not assess tems, however, are generally locally-oriented. systems in major countries can barely fit into the I hope this event will effectively contribute to the specificity of the transport system of AB „Li- Meanwhile the challenges of globalisation specific geographic frame, we are interested in a more rapid IT development in the transport etuvos gelezinkeliai“ properly. stipulate the necessity of shifting at the ear- developing joint information systems with the sector. Despite criticism of the provisions of the 26 RAIL Rescuers on the Rails In the Kaunas Railway Tunnel already a second training drill was arranged for rescue fire-fighters by AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” and the fire and rescue service. This event showed once more that for ensuring safety on railway tracks and the forces for liquidating traffic accidents large amounts of funds must be allocated. algio palionio algio palionio algio

he company AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ has Liquidation System, oriented towards extreme Inventing Their Own Bicycle Stations have been chosen not accidentally – in place the Extreme Situations Management as well as simpler traffic accidents. Although it the trains can meet in any location on the Lith- T It is interesting that every country’s railways Centre, which takes over control when an espe- functioned long ago, it was legally established uanian railway network in less than one and create and develop their own system for liqui- cially dangerous situation occurs. In case of sim- only last year. a half hour. Each of them serves the distance dating the consequences of traffic accidents pler traffic accidents, this centre together with The basis of this system is auxiliary trains of about 370 km. If an accident is big, there at and, therefore, it differs. Having taken a closer employees from the Safety Department forms having powerful cranes, professional work- once come two trains that are most nearby. look, it is apparent that Western countries are an operational group. Although drills receive ers and even fire fighting equipment.T hey lift Upon occurrence of a traffic accident, the more inclined to pass the functions of accident quite much attention and effort, according to Pi- a derailed train of wagons, reconstruct tracks track is closed; therefore, from the moment liquidation and putting trains on the rails to fire- otras Skripskis, Head of the Safety Department and all communications. If a train of wagons when the trains stop damages are started to fighters, whereas Eastern countries, vice versa, at AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”, extreme situations carries dangerous materials or an extreme sit- be calculated. The task of auxiliary trains is to are more inclined to create inside the railways occur on the railway tracks notably rarely. uation occurs – fire, explosion, the fire and res- liquidate the consequences as fast as possi- complex and developed services. For example, It is worth distinguishing two types of acci- cue service is called out first of all. Only when Finland has dismissed creation of an expensive ble; therefore, work is done without stopping dents – traffic accidents when trains of wagons fire-fighters pass on the baton to the railways, all day and night long, in shifts. According to their services get down to the work of liquidat- railway system and trusts the work of fire-fight- or wagons derail and turn upside down, and ers, but the latter service is much better devel- P. Skripskis, liquidation time depends on the extreme situations as defined by statutory acts ing the consequences. complexity of an accident and may take from There happen to be cases when fire-fight- oped than in Lithuania. In Belarus, Latvia and – “a situation evoking a sudden and enormous Poland a more or less similar system is in opera- several hours up to 7 days. On average, work danger to people’s life and health, property, ers, plainly speaking, have no possibility of get- takes 12-18 hours. More complex traffic acci- ting to the place of an accident as their trans- tion as in Lithuanian railways. An interesting sit- nature, or the death or injury of people or ma- uation exists in Germany – in the Eastern part dents require 3-7 days. terial damages”, so – fires, explosions and other port is motor cars, then the work from the very beginning is passed on to auxiliary trains of AB more developed is the system owned by the happenings. Both the first and the second case railways, while in the Western part more trust is Accident Team require joint efforts of several agencies to liqui- “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” on the rails. According given to the help rendered by fire-fighters. Looking at the statistics of traffic accidents, date the consequences of accidents. to Andrius Janušauskas, Chief Safety Inspec- tor of the Extreme Situations Centre, AB “Lietu- Antanas Ravdonavičius, Coordinator of the positive dynamics can be seen – the figures are vos geležinkeliai” themselves have all possibil- Extreme Situations Management Centre at AB decreasing. During the period of 1998–2009 Liquidation Mechanisms ities of extinguishing fire at places of accident: “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”, explains that having the Vilnius auxiliary train set out for liquidation AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” explains that fire-fighting trains, which carry large amounts such system of auxiliary trains is an expensive of traffic accidents 92 times. During 12 years, they have developed an effective Extreme Sit- of water in their wagons, and trained certified pleasure, but it is always ready to lend help. The auxiliary trains set out for liquidating the con- speaker emphasises that in Lithuania rescue fire- uations and Railway Transport Consequences employees. sequences of traffic accidents 256 times in to- fighters do not have such intricate and expen- tal, on average 21 times a year. Too rarely? Per- sive equipment, which is needed when liquidat- haps – this is to the good. ing the consequences of railway traffic accidents. There happen to be cases when fire-fighters, plainly speaking, have At other times when free from liquidation no possibility of getting to the place of an accident as their transport of accidents, auxiliary trains do utility and con- Auxiliary Trains tract works, constructing bridges, repairing is motor cars, then the work from the very beginning is passed on to In Lithuania there are four auxiliary trains in railway roads, replacing points and helping auxiliary trains of AB “Lietuvos gelezinkeliai”. total – in Vilnius, Kaunas, Šiauliai and Klaipėda. companies to hoist out out-of-gauge cargoes. RAIL 27 The way accidents are liquidated Practical training was a success. Specialists of Šiauliai special services and railwaymen were faced with a difficult task: they had to liquidate consequences of a very complicated simulated train accident. algio palionio algio

algio palionio algio

he accident was staged: when a ma- chains evacuated the injured people using Tnoeuvre train carried cisterns with die- a fire hose that sprayed wide, and the other sel fuel and a platform loaded with rails, the chain helped to cool the intact cistern that rails broke, one cistern ran off the rails, a the was near the burning one. fire broke out following a colision with the The Head of the Operational Manage- platform, and diesel fuel spilled into the en- ment Division of Šiauliai Fire Fighting and vironment. Three people who worked near- Rescue Service Boleslovas Šeškas explained by were injured during the simulated acci- that seeking to avoid explosion, it was nec- dent. Hence, the city and railway rescue ser- essary to do that. “Usually it is not the burn- vices had the opportunity to test their abil- ing cistern that explodes because its con- ities and skills in the course of such training tents burn out but the one that is placed and now they say that they would feel more next to it because on account of heat gas confident and safe if a similar accident took accumulates inside it. If pressure reaches

andriaus ufarto / bfl / ufarto andriaus bfl / ufarto andriaus place in reality. the critical limit, the cistern may explode”,

Algirdas Karužis, Director of “Šiaulių he explained. Piotras Skripskis, Head of the Antanas Ravdonavičius, Coordinator of the geležinkelių infrastruktūra”, the branch of The team that took over management of Safety Department at AB “Lietuvos Extreme Situations Management Centre at AB AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“, explained that rescue operations immediately took out an- geležinkeliai”: “So far there have been “Lietuvos geležinkeliai”: “Having a developed practical training that took place in Zokniai other water hose to cool the cisterns, pre- was devoted not only to providing the em- pared it for pouring generator foams, and no extreme and especially dangerous system of auxiliary trains is an expensive ployees of an auxiliary train with the pos- got ready to place a motor pumping-sta- situations on the railways”. pleasure, but other agencies of Lithuania do not sibility to practice how to liquidate conse- tion next to an open water spring in the ter- have such intricate and expensive equipment, quences of a railway accident in real con- ritory of the nearby undertaking. which is needed when liquidating the ditions but also to improving interaction An auxiliary train was also sent to the consequences of railway traffic accidents”. between all special services. The accident site of the accident. The head of rescue op- scarcely happened when the engine driv- erations instructed the fire train to form two er of the diesel locomotive started giving chains consisting of two people each and to a signal of a conventional combination of get ready for pouring foams. During the period of 12 years, there happened getting more expensive. two short sounds and informed the man on It took specialists of different rescue ser- to be more than one thousand such trips. To these figures should be also added in- duty of the station thereof. The road master vices to overcome the obstacle: the fire was Based on the results, a forecast is produced. vestments designated for equipment. For ex- also had some duties to fulfil: he informed put out, the injured people were saved, die- It says that this year the Vilnius auxiliary train ample, in 2007 hoisting equipment – a jack the engine driver of the injured workers, sel fuel was sucked up from the surface of will set out for accidents 8 times, for utility system was purchased for hoisting trains and saw to it that first aid should be properly the earth and the cistern was placed on the works – 38 times, and 8 times will be hired for putting them on the rails. The cost of one such provided to them, and having fenced the rails again. contract works. The Klaipėda auxiliary train will set reaches 980 thousand LTL. site of the accident he appointed two sig- have least work. As the larger part of transit cargoes are pe- nallers. The ticket collector of the train un- Consequences would be disastrous Since 2005 there also has decreased the troleum products, it is necessary to get pre- coupled the manoeuvre diesel locomotive Specialists of AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeli- number of employees participating in the liq- pared for dangerous accidents. Damages re- and the platform from the damaged cistern ai“, firemen of Šiauliai District Fire Fighting uidation of accidents – from 101 down to 94. lating to petroleum products are estimated and the engine driver drove it to the nearby and Rescue Service, officials of Vilnius City It is interesting that these employees are mas- in hundreds of thousands. Therefore, in 2006 dead end road. Chief Police Commissariat and physicians ters of 5-6 professions. The Vilnius auxiliary powerful pumps for pumping petroleum The woman on duty at Zokniai railway of the emergency medical service took part train has 29 such workers, Kaunas – 20, Šiauliai products as well as hoses for collecting them station was also busy –making use of a gen- in the above-mentioned training. Antanas – 23, Klaipėda the least – 22. were acquired. Prices here are just cosmic. Let’s eral help line telephone she informed the Ravdanavičius, Chief Inspector of Safety of In- not forget to add a hoisting equipment-cush- Company of the accident, and the opera- frastructure Division of AB „Lietuvos gelezin- ion functioning on air basis, metal shearing tive superintendent of the train (PT3) IF-3 A Well for Money keliai“ told us that there have been no such or equipment and many other things. rushed to the site of the accident together Retaining people means expenses. Let similar accidents in our country in the course with the entire train handed over by the ap- alone modern and especially expensive equip- AB “Lietuvos geležinkeliai” has conducted of past twenty years so far, however, they do proved list. ment, which is possessed only by AB “Lietuvos a study, where they have estimated wheth- occur in the world therefore it was impor- geležinkeliai”, as for fire-fighters to have an -ex er it is worth investing into all this expensive tant to achieve that rescue services should be pensive crane, which would be used only sev- equipment. The findings show that so far there There was enough work for everyone ready to act in an extreme situation. eral times a year, is not worth. is no other way out. Other agencies of Lithua- Soon a crew of the police officials -ar There have been accidents in Lithuania According to the data of 2008, for maintain- nia do not have such equipment, which is in- rived at the site of the accident and start- but during the recent years there have not ing the Vilnius auxiliary train 2.153 million LTL dispensable for the railways. Though AB “Lietu- ed regulating the traffic; as many as three been any too complicated ones: it some- was required, for maintaining the Kaunas aux- vos geležinkeliai” does not reject the possibili- ambulances and a fire truck came hurry- times happened that a train derailed, petro- iliary train 1.320 million LTL was required, for ty that in the future the system might change, ing. After the road master had informed the leum products spilled. maintaining the Šiauliai auxiliary train 1.95 mil- but this requires huge investments. As long as head of rescue operations of the accident, According to him, such kind of training is lion LTL was required, and for maintaining the such investments are absent, auxiliary trains the burning substance, the injured and the necessary because if it so happened that a Klaipėda auxiliary train 1.315 million LTL was will further operate. Possessing unique equip- first actions taken, he assessed the fire and complex accident occurred and rescue ser- required. The amounts are impressive, but with ment, the railwaymen get earnings by carrying formed two chains consisting of two peo- vices and AB „Lietuvos gelezinkeliai“ were time they are only increasing. Even 70 percent out contract works – hoisting out-of-gauge ple each wearing heat-resistant costumes not ready to act, consequences would be of these figures is accounted for by wages and cargoes, arranging and attending to the envi- and breathing apparatuses. One of these disastrous. salaries, while labour force has the tendency of ronment. 28 RAIL

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