EUROPE: Lithuanian passenger operator LTG Link has opened ticket sales for its Vilnius – Riga service, which is set to launch on December 27.
The daily service will leave Vilnius at 06.30 and arrive in the Latvian capital at 10.43. The return working will leave Riga at 15.28 and reach Vilnius at 19.51.
There will be connections with services on the Kaunas – Vilnius route at Kaišiadorys.
A standard ticket will cost €24, and first class will also be available. Bicycles can be carried for €10, and pets can travel with a valid pet passport. Eurail tickets will be accepted.
The service is primarily aimed at international travel, and will not available for local travel on the Jelgava – Riga section in Latvia.
Services will be operated with a Pesa 730 ML diesel multiple-unit offering 142 seats. Hot and cold snacks and drinks will be available.
‘We have already completed the most important preparations and obtained the necessary permits’, said LTG Link Acting CEO Gediminas Šečkus when ticket sales began on December 18. ‘The estimated journey time will be competitive with cars, but instead of tiring driving, it will be possible to spend the journey time on oneself in a meaningful way, and the comfort and sustainability that will await passengers will be the kind that only trains can offer.’
There is currently no through passenger train service between the two capitals, although before the pandemic determined rail travellers could make the journey via Daugavpils.
The new service is the result of an agreement reached by the transport ministers and prime ministers of the three Baltic countries; earlier this year Lithuania’s Deputy Minister of Transport & Communications Loreta Maskaliovienė said she hoped there could be a connection to Tallinn in the future, even before the completion of the Rail Baltica 1 435 mm gauge line.
