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.