The railway investments around the Baltic Sea continue this winter with a new direct line between the capitals of Lithuania and Poland. The goal is smooth connections all the way from Finland in the north in a few years.
According to a memorandum signed in Lithuania on Friday, the direct Vilnius-Warsaw train will initially take up to 8 hours, Lithuanian media reports. The railways in the region currently have different track gauges, and it is not clear how this will be resolved.
But the journey time should then be significantly reduced when high-speed trains are introduced in a few years. The infrastructure is being upgraded as part of the large "Rail Baltica" project, which is supported by the EU, among others.
The Vilnius-Warsaw route is approximately 500 kilometers and takes 6–7 hours by car.
Rail Baltica aims to better and more efficiently connect cities around the Baltic Sea. One of the goals is fast and direct train connections from the Estonian capital Tallinn in the north, via Latvia and Lithuania down to Poland. The plans also include night trains to Berlin and Vienna, and the route will also be connected to Helsinki by ferry.
Source: TT-DI.SE
