LITHUANIA: ‘Rail Baltica is fundamental for faster military mobility and for the overall security of the region’, CEO of national railway LTG Egidijus Lazauskas said when the NATO Force Integration Unit visited a construction site to discuss how the civilian project will also significantly enhance the alliance’s ability to deploy reinforcements in the Baltic region.
NATO Force Integration Units support planning for collective defence through the rapid deployment of allied forces to the eastern members of the alliance.
Discussions during the visit to the Rail Baltica construction site near Jonava covered rail freight operations, progress with military mobility infrastructure projects and the FREE Rail programme launched by LTG to align 1 520 mm gauge railways with EU standards and best practice ‘and thus strengthen their resilience against unfriendly countries.’
Lazauskas said ‘we estimate that the number of NATO military trains arriving in Lithuania has increased every year since 2019, with a 40% increase in 2023. The need for the infrastructure is high and mutual.’
Denmark’s Colonel Peter Nielsen, who heads the NFIU for Lithuania, said ’when faced with a military threat, Lithuania’s security directly depends on the speed of deployment of NATO allies. Therefore, it is essential to ensure that military mobility becomes one of the top national security priorities and that sufficient resources and efforts are devoted to it.
‘It should be emphasised that military mobility serves primarily as a deterrent. However, the benefits derived from it — in the form of a well-developed national transport infrastructure – are for the benefit of society as a whole.’
