Lithuania, and Vilnius to Daugavpils

[class387]

Hello everyone,

I have a five day trip to Lithuania next month - based in Vilnius, so was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for places to visit, day trips, or interesting transport?

I'm also thinking of making a day trip to Daugavpils in Latvia and as far as I understand it, you currently have to walk across the border from Turmantas and get a local bus the other side? Does anyone have any experience of doing this? I also note that Vilnius to Daugavpils trains were meant to be resuming 'this spring' but it seems to have gone a bit quiet - does anyone know anything about this?

Many thanks!

 

[gordonthemoron]

Kaunas is nice, not been anywhere other than Kaunas and Vilnius

 

[deltic]

Depends on your interests, Trakai is a short train ride from Vilnius and it's a pleasant walk to the castle in the middle of the lake

 

[Segedunum]

There's a coach between Daugavpils and Vilnius but I strongly recommend avoiding - as (at least back in 2023 it did) it comes from Moscow. Predictably it gets held up with massive delays at the border and it rocked up several hours late when I had booked it.

Trakai is indeed pretty simple to do, as is Kaunas. I found the latter to be pleasant albeit quite bleak on a freezing cold February morning. You'll probably have a more favourable view in June! You could probably do a day trip to Klaipeda if you were so inclined as well, as the LTG Link app is easy to use and the trains are simple to book. Some Klaipeda services IIRC are also loco-hauled.

Vilnius Station has a small open air museum over the other side of the tracks, with a variety of older stock and locos to look at. Open during daylight hours and free to visit, just with a security guard keeping an eye on things.

 

[stadler]

Hello everyone,

I have a five day trip to Lithuania next month - based in Vilnius, so was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for places to visit, day trips, or interesting transport?

I'm also thinking of making a day trip to Daugavpils in Latvia and as far as I understand it, you currently have to walk across the border from Turmantas and get a local bus the other side? Does anyone have any experience of doing this? I also note that Vilnius to Daugavpils trains were meant to be resuming 'this spring' but it seems to have gone a bit quiet - does anyone know anything about this?

Many thanks!

I have done this four times (twice in each direction) to get from Vilnius to Riga or vice versa. It is an easy simple route. The walk is quite short and easy.

Just take a train from Vilnius to Turmantas and then you walk for about fifteen to twenty minutes along the path at the side of the track across the border to the village of Zemgale. You eventually will see a church and then a level crossing and the bus stops right by there. Then from there you can pick up the local bus to Daugavpils.

I believe the bus times are as follows:

06:40 Zemgale to Daugavpils 07:20
08:45 Zemgale to Daugavpils 09:25
14:15 Zemgale to Daugavpils 14:50
18:00 Zemgale to Daugavpils 18:40

08:00 Daugavpils to Zemgale 08:40
13:30 Daugavpils to Zemgale 14:10
17:15 Daugavpils to Zemgale 17:55

Northbound:

Starppilsētu/starptautiskie autobusi Zemgale - Daugavpils AO - 1188 satiksme

Skaties autobusu Zemgale - Daugavpils AO sarakstus un pērc autobusu biļetes tiešsaistē. Visi autobusi no Zemgale līdz Daugavpils AO.

www.1188.lv

Southbound:

Starppilsētu/starptautiskie autobusi Daugavpils AO - Zemgale - 1188 satiksme

Skaties autobusu Daugavpils AO - Zemgale sarakstus un pērc autobusu biļetes tiešsaistē. Visi autobusi no Daugavpils AO līdz Zemgale.

www.1188.lv

Oddly one direction gets an extra bus. Last time i went i think it was EUR1.60 single and online suggests the price is still the same. Make sure to have cash to pay for it. Route 6173 is the number of the bus.

Timetables for the Vilnius to Turmantas train can be downloaded here:

Nauji metiniai traukinių tvarkaraščiai

Keliauju traukiniu | LTG Link

ltglink.lt

Click the third one for the timetable PDF for this route:

https://ltglinklivev1.blob.core.windows.net/cms/media/2024/11/vilnius-ignalina-turmantas-nuo-2024-12-15.pdf

Timetables for the trains around Daugavpils can be downloaded here if you are interested too:

Vilcienu kustības pamatsaraksts

vivi.lv

Both the Latvian and Lithuania trains are operated by old Soviet built DR1 trains.

So you could certainly do a day trip to Daugavpils but it would require careful planning as neither the train nor the buses are very frequent. You may prefer to stay overnight in Daugavpils instead and give yourself more time to look around. It is definitely a city worth visiting and i have always enjoyed my time there.

 

[class387]

This is all really useful, thank you!

I have done this four times (twice in each direction) to get from Vilnius to Riga or vice versa. It is an easy simple route. The walk is quite short and easy.

Just take a train from Vilnius to Turmantas and then you walk for about fifteen to twenty minutes along the path at the side of the track across the border to the village of Zemgale. You eventually will see a church and then a level crossing and the bus stops right by there. Then from there you can pick up the local bus to Daugavpils.

I believe the bus times are as follows:

06:40 Zemgale to Daugavpils 07:20
08:45 Zemgale to Daugavpils 09:25
14:15 Zemgale to Daugavpils 14:50
18:00 Zemgale to Daugavpils 18:40

08:00 Daugavpils to Zemgale 08:40
13:30 Daugavpils to Zemgale 14:10
17:15 Daugavpils to Zemgale 17:55

Northbound:

Starppilsētu/starptautiskie autobusi Zemgale - Daugavpils AO - 1188 satiksme

Skaties autobusu Zemgale - Daugavpils AO sarakstus un pērc autobusu biļetes tiešsaistē. Visi autobusi no Zemgale līdz Daugavpils AO.

www.1188.lv

Southbound:

Starppilsētu/starptautiskie autobusi Daugavpils AO - Zemgale - 1188 satiksme

Skaties autobusu Daugavpils AO - Zemgale sarakstus un pērc autobusu biļetes tiešsaistē. Visi autobusi no Daugavpils AO līdz Zemgale.

www.1188.lv

Oddly one direction gets an extra bus. Last time i went i think it was EUR1.60 single and online suggests the price is still the same. Make sure to have cash to pay for it. Route 6173 is the number of the bus.

Timetables for the Vilnius to Turmantas train can be downloaded here:

Nauji metiniai traukinių tvarkaraščiai

Keliauju traukiniu | LTG Link

ltglink.lt

Click the third one for the timetable PDF for this route:

https://ltglinklivev1.blob.core.windows.net/cms/media/2024/11/vilnius-ignalina-turmantas-nuo-2024-12-15.pdf

Timetables for the trains around Daugavpils can be downloaded here if you are interested too:

Vilcienu kustības pamatsaraksts

vivi.lv

Both the Latvian and Lithuania trains are operated by old Soviet built DR1 trains.

So you could certainly do a day trip to Daugavpils but it would require careful planning as neither the train nor the buses are very frequent. You may prefer to stay overnight in Daugavpils instead and give yourself more time to look around. It is definitely a city worth visiting and i have always enjoyed my time there.

How reliable are the connections? Would the 1112 from Vilnius, arriving Turmantas at 1341, be an acceptable connection onto the 1415 bus from Zemgale? I assume trying to get the 1812 train from Turmantas off the last bus into Zemgale would then be a step too far?

 

[stadler]

This is all really useful, thank you!


How reliable are the connections? Would the 1112 from Vilnius, arriving Turmantas at 1341, be an acceptable connection onto the 1415 bus from Zemgale? I assume trying to get the 1812 train from Turmantas off the last bus into Zemgale would then be a step too far?

Yes the 13:41 arrival at Turmantas is more than enough time to catch the 14:15 bus. That is a very easy connection. From my experience the trains on this route are very reliable and have always run bang on time. Even if you walk at slower leisurely pace then it will still only be twenty minutes maximum to walk. So that connection is a very easy and comfortable connection.

I have successfully made the connection arriving at Zemgale at 17:55 and departing Turmantas at 18:12 last time that i did it. It is tight but i successfully made the connection with about five minutes to spare. If you are able to walk fast then you can do the walk in about ten minutes. Also the roads are very quiet and the bus is normally running a couple minutes early which is also helps. So as long as you are a fast walker it should be possible to make that connection.

 

[class387]

Yes the 13:41 arrival at Turmantas is more than enough time to catch the 14:15 bus. That is a very easy connection. From my experience the trains on this route are very reliable and have always run bang on time. Even if you walk at slower leisurely pace then it will still only be twenty minutes maximum to walk. So that connection is a very easy and comfortable connection.

I have successfully made the connection arriving at Zemgale at 17:55 and departing Turmantas at 18:12 last time that i did it. It is tight but i successfully made the connection with about five minutes to spare. If you are able to walk fast then you can do the walk in about ten minutes. Also the roads are very quiet and the bus is normally running a couple minutes early which is also helps. So as long as you are a fast walker it should be possible to make that connection.

That's really useful to know, many thanks! May do just that for a brief visit then (main intention is to get a ride or two on some KTM or Tatra trams), though I also note there's a Flixbus back from Daugavpils at 1935 which would give me an extra two hours.

 

[stadler]

That's really useful to know, many thanks! May do just that for a brief visit then (main intention is to get a ride or two on some KTM or Tatra trams), though I also note there's a Flixbus back from Daugavpils at 1935 which would give me an extra two hours.

Ah i had not considered the Flixbus option. That may work out well. I had never realised there was a direct coach.

Looking online the Flixbus times are as follows:

10:45 Vilnius to Daugavpils 13:30

19:35 Daugavpils to Vilnius 22:15

That gives you just over six hours there to look around.

Flixbus is showing prices of £9.49 Single or £17.98 Return for any date i select. You save a bit of money getting a Return ticket rather than two Single tickets. So that works out very slightly cheaper than the train and walk and local bus option.

Obviously the train is probably a more interesting and enjoyable option if you like trains but if you want a longer day out and more time to look around Daugavpils then it may be worth doing the coach both there and back.

 

[Krokodil]

Vilnius Station has a small open air museum over the other side of the tracks, with a variety of older stock and locos to look at. Open during daylight hours and free to visit, just with a security guard keeping an eye on things.

There is also a small (pay to enter) exhibition upstairs in the station building

 

[class387]

Ah i had not considered the Flixbus option. That may work out well. I had never realised there was a direct coach.

Looking online the Flixbus times are as follows:

10:45 Vilnius to Daugavpils 13:30

19:35 Daugavpils to Vilnius 22:15

That gives you just over six hours there to look around.

Flixbus is showing prices of £9.49 Single or £17.98 Return for any date i select. You save a bit of money getting a Return ticket rather than two Single tickets. So that works out very slightly cheaper than the train and walk and local bus option.

Obviously the train is probably a more interesting and enjoyable option if you like trains but if you want a longer day out and more time to look around Daugavpils then it may be worth doing the coach both there and back.

The Flixbus seems to be a very long (and random to me) route between Daugavpils and Ljubljana? So I was thinking that any possible delay on the outbound might negate the time saving, which would make the train more attractive.

Need to look into it though. I also seem to remember that the single car trams in Daugavpils don't work during the afternoon peak which would make those two hours rather crucial.

 

[stadler]

The Flixbus seems to be a very long (and random to me) route between Daugavpils and Ljubljana? So I was thinking that any possible delay on the outbound might negate the time saving, which would make the train more attractive.

Need to look into it though. I also seem to remember that the single car trams in Daugavpils don't work during the afternoon peak which would make those two hours rather crucial.

Flixbus has a bunch of random routes like that. I have never understood the logic of them. I can not imagine that Ljubljana to Daugavpils has much demand.

If it helps you can track Flixbus journeys online here:

https://www.flixbus.co.uk/track

You can also look at past reliability for the same day and for the day before. Today it ran 11 minutes late. Yesterday it ran 5 minutes early. So you could always look at the reliability a couple days before and see what it is like before making a decision. Or even check in the morning (once the coach is already on its journey) before making a decision on whether to take the coach or train. But despite coming from Ljubljana it appears fairly reliable.

Yes when i was last in Daugavpils i noticed the single cars mainly seemed to be used off peak. From my observations they seemed to come out of the depot around 09:00 to 09:30 and then go back to the depot around 15:00 to 15:30 so they did not see any peak time use. I presume that they want to make sure that the peak time trams are the longer ones with more capacity. Maybe a few get used during peak times but from what i noted off peak was best to spot those

 

[class387]

Flixbus has a bunch of random routes like that. I have never understood the logic of them. I can not imagine that Ljubljana to Daugavpils has much demand.

If it helps you can track Flixbus journeys online here:

https://www.flixbus.co.uk/track

You can also look at past reliability for the same day and for the day before. Today it ran 11 minutes late. Yesterday it ran 5 minutes early. So you could always look at the reliability a couple days before and see what it is like before making a decision. Or even check in the morning (once the coach is already on its journey) before making a decision on whether to take the coach or train. But despite coming from Ljubljana it appears fairly reliable.

Yes when i was last in Daugavpils i noticed the single cars mainly seemed to be used off peak. From my observations they seemed to come out of the depot around 09:00 to 09:30 and then go back to the depot around 15:00 to 15:30 so they did not see any peak time use. I presume that they want to make sure that the peak time trams are the longer ones with more capacity. Maybe a few get used during peak times but from what i noted off peak was best to spot those

That's really helpful to know, thanks! Interesting about the trams, that might make the 1450 arrival from the Zemgale bus a bit tight for the tram rides then... I wonder whether me going during school holidays would affect anything in that regard?

On a different note - I'm not sure will have time to go all the way to Klaipeda on one of the loco hauled services (though it seems brilliant). Does anyone have any suggestions for somewhere in between to stop off?

 

[class387]

Quick update on this having done it this week! Vilnius to Daugavpils using the 1112 train, connecting onto the 1415 bus, worked perfectly with about five minutes to spare at Zemgale. I got the Flixbus back (wouldn't have liked to do the quicker walk in the summer heat) - this ran about 20 minutes late by Vilnius, we took a rural country route due to roadworks on the motorway.

Having only seen photos of heavily modernised DR1 units in Lithuania I was pleasantly surprised to see that at least one of them is still in original condition internally - this popped up on the same 1112 service, as I was hanging around Vilnius station the day after my Daugavpils trip, and I enjoyed a ride on it about an hour out of Vilnius. Does anyone know how many units are in such a condition?

Loved Lithuania, definitely recommend visiting.

 

[Tinginys]

Not sure how reliable this is but someone at LTG mentioned that Vilnius-Daugavpils service will resume once Pesa 730ML will be allocated to the route (just ~30 km short of Daugavpils) because old, even if modernised, DR1AM are simply not good enough for an international intercity service of 2+ hours. So if this actually happens it will be either in late 2026 or early 2027 once new Stadler FLIRTs will relieve all 730MLs from Vilnius-Klaipėda route. Vilnius-Daugavpils on a comfortable and fairly modern Pesa 730ML (currently used for Vilnius-Klaipėda, Vilnius-Mockava and Vilnius-Riga) would be more than adequate. Won't hold my breath just yet, but I will keep fingers crossed.

 

[stadler]

Not sure how reliable this is but someone at LTG mentioned that Vilnius-Daugavpils service will resume once Pesa 730ML will be allocated to the route (just ~30 km short of Daugavpils) because old, even if modernised, DR1AM are simply not good enough for an international intercity service of 2+ hours. So if this actually happens it will be either in late 2026 or early 2027 once new Stadler FLIRTs will relieve all 730MLs from Vilnius-Klaipėda route. Vilnius-Daugavpils on a comfortable and fairly modern Pesa 730ML (currently used for Vilnius-Klaipėda, Vilnius-Mockava and Vilnius-Riga) would be more than adequate. Won't hold my breath just yet, but I will keep fingers crossed.

That is good to hear. That would be amazing if it does restart again. It will also provide an alternative more frequent Vilnius to Riga route without having to do a walk and a bus ride via Turmantas and Zemgale as is currently required.

I hope that it results in all six Turmantas trains in each direction being extended to and from Daugavpils and not a very limited service. I could see it being popular if it has a good timetable and is well publicised. So i shall keep my fingers crossed.

I do not understand their logic of DR1 trains being suitable for Turmantas but not for Daugavpils which is just twenty minutes extra. That just sounds like an excuse for them to take longer to restart the service again. I actually find the DR1 trains very pleasant to travel on. They have a very nice spacious interior and overall are pleasant to ride. LG have even refurbished them to a good standard.

Out of interest would drivers and guards working the Vilnius to Daugavpils trains be required to speak Latvian too? I am not sure whether that was the case last time they ran (early 2018 to early 2020) before the Daugavpils service got suspended? If so then i wonder if that is possibly also delaying it as i doubt LG have many Latvian speaking staff?

The new order of Flirt trains is 9x electric units and 6x battery units so i wonder if the battery ones could end up on the Daugavpils service eventually? I suppose it depends on if the battery ones have enough range to get to Daugavpils and back? Unless they have other plans for them?

 

[nwales58]

Out of interest would drivers and guards working the Vilnius to Daugavpils trains be required to speak Latvian too?

Outside my real knowledge, and have no desire to start a row about russian speakers in the baltic countries, but I believe Daugavpils is an overwhelmingly russian speaking area.

Are railway operations 100% national language in LT and LV now or is it pragmatic?

For comparison, german crews working to Zgorzelec don’t seem to speak Polish.

 

[Tinginys]

That is good to hear. That would be amazing if it does restart again. It will also provide an alternative more frequent Vilnius to Riga route without having to do a walk and a bus ride via Turmantas and Zemgale as is currently required.

I hope that it results in all six Turmantas trains in each direction being extended to and from Daugavpils and not a very limited service. I could see it being popular if it has a good timetable and is well publicised. So i shall keep my fingers crossed.

I do not understand their logic of DR1 trains being suitable for Turmantas but not for Daugavpils which is just twenty minutes extra. That just sounds like an excuse for them to take longer to restart the service again. I actually find the DR1 trains very pleasant to travel on. They have a very nice spacious interior and overall are pleasant to ride. LG have even refurbished them to a good standard.

I wouldn't try to see much logic in it since it's 1) just some rumor I've heard and 2) LTG have made false promises and used poor excuses in the past, so it could well be that Vilnius-Daugavpils won't get reintroduced at all. It could well be that they're unable to agree on something with the Latvian side since there were such indications in the past (Latvians charging unreasonably high infrastructure usage fees and so on). I do find it a bit sad though that two neighbouring nations with multiple railway track connections that are in a reasonably good shape only have one daily service between them. It should be many many more services, perhaps ~10 daily services in total and not just between Vilnius and Riga/Daugavpils but also Kaunas-Riga, Šiauliai-Riga, Visaginas-Daugavpils and maybe others. There is no good explanation from the mobility and passenger perspective why this isn't the case other than some clumsy and shady politics and local ambitions.

Out of interest would drivers and guards working the Vilnius to Daugavpils trains be required to speak Latvian too? I am not sure whether that was the case last time they ran (early 2018 to early 2020) before the Daugavpils service got suspended? If so then i wonder if that is possibly also delaying it as i doubt LG have many Latvian speaking staff?

Current Vilnius-Riga-Valga train arrangement is that Latvian crew serve the train in Latvia (they board in Jelgava I believe). LTG hired their crew through public adverts in Latvia from what I remember, so no reason why something similar couldn't be done on Vilnius-Daugavpils if it's really required. On the other hand Krakow-Mockava crew don't really speak Lithuanian on the PKP train which technically travels in the Lithuanian territory so I don't think this should be a real issue anywhere. Unless of course someone is very keen to politicize it.

The new order of Flirt trains is 9x electric units and 6x battery units so i wonder if the battery ones could end up on the Daugavpils service eventually? I suppose it depends on if the battery ones have enough range to get to Daugavpils and back? Unless they have other plans for them?

It wasn't mentioned anywhere but in theory it could with some charging station along the way (like the one planned in Varėna on Vilnius-Marcinkonys route). I think the issue here is range (~100km) and charging station arrangement as well as time needed to charge the batteries. It may be not very practical if the train needs to spend ~30 minutes somewhere halfway to Daugavpils to recharge.

 

[stadler]

Outside my real knowledge, and have no desire to start a row about russian speakers in the baltic countries, but I believe Daugavpils is an overwhelmingly russian speaking area.

Are railway operations 100% national language in LT and LV now or is it pragmatic?

For comparison, german crews working to Zgorzelec don’t seem to speak Polish.

Yes correct i believe over 80% of people in Daugavpils speak Russian as their first language. A good percentage of people (especially older people) have no knowledge of the Latvian language. It is very much a Russian speaking city. Although most of the youth around Daugavpils speak Latvian as a second language now. I guess in reality speaking Lithuanian and Russian would probably be more useful than Lithuanian and Latvian for a Vilnius to Daugavpils train service.

But i do wonder how communication with signallers works if you can not speak the language. For your example if the German crews to Zgorzelec can not speak Polish then what happens if there is an issue whilst in Poland and the signaller can not speak German either. I suppose it is a low likelyhood but still it could cause issues.

I wouldn't try to see much logic in it since it's 1) just some rumor I've heard and 2) LTG have made false promises and used poor excuses in the past, so it could well be that Vilnius-Daugavpils won't get reintroduced at all. It could well be that they're unable to agree on something with the Latvian side since there were such indications in the past (Latvians charging unreasonably high infrastructure usage fees and so on). I do find it a bit sad though that two neighbouring nations with multiple railway track connections that are in a reasonably good shape only have one daily service between them. It should be many many more services, perhaps ~10 daily services in total and not just between Vilnius and Riga/Daugavpils but also Kaunas-Riga, Šiauliai-Riga, Visaginas-Daugavpils and maybe others. There is no good explanation from the mobility and passenger perspective why this isn't the case other than some clumsy and shady politics and local ambitions.



Current Vilnius-Riga-Valga train arrangement is that Latvian crew serve the train in Latvia (they board in Jelgava I believe). LTG hired their crew through public adverts in Latvia from what I remember, so no reason why something similar couldn't be done on Vilnius-Daugavpils if it's really required. On the other hand Krakow-Mockava crew don't really speak Lithuanian on the PKP train which technically travels in the Lithuanian territory so I don't think this should be a real issue anywhere. Unless of course someone is very keen to politicize it.


It wasn't mentioned anywhere but in theory it could with some charging station along the way (like the one planned in Varėna on Vilnius-Marcinkonys route). I think the issue here is range (~100km) and charging station arrangement as well as time needed to charge the batteries. It may be not very practical if the train needs to spend ~30 minutes somewhere halfway to Daugavpils to recharge.

Thanks for the reply. I agree it is a real shame that cross border links between Lithuania and Latvia are ao poor. There are four operational railway lines across the border (and another two closed ones) and yet all they can manage is one train a day in each direction across just one border crossing. Sadly the lack of cross border services is an issue throughout Europe and so many railways only care about domestic services.

I guess if only Lithuanian speaking crews are allowed to go to Jelgava then it should be possible for only Lithuanian speaking crews to work to Daugavpils which is a much shorter distance over the border. I know if this was somewhere like Belgium they would make a big deal out of it but it sounds like Latvia and Lithuania are a bit more sensible here.

It is a shame the range of the battery Flirts is lower that i had expected. If it could manage around 200km then it should be possible to use battery Flirts if they installed chargers at both Vilnius and Daugavpils as i think that distance is approximately 190km between them.

Another thing i wonder is whether Latvia would be interested in opening up any stations between Turmantas and Daugavpils if a service restarts. It is quite a long section with no intermediate stations.

Zemgale is just over the border and has a small village and a school. It is currently only served by a bus service but it used to have a railway station in Soviet times and part of the old station building is still there.

As you get closer to Daugavpils there are also more urban areas (eg Daugava / Micurinietis / Kalkuni / Niderkuni etc) where a station could be popular. But i suppose it depends on whether LDZ / PV / VIVI wants to pay for it.

 

[Full Standing]

Out of interest would drivers and guards working the Vilnius to Daugavpils trains be required to speak Latvian too?

Current Vilnius-Riga-Valga train arrangement is that Latvian crew serve the train in Latvia (they board in Jelgava I believe). LTG hired their crew through public adverts in Latvia from what I remember, so no reason why something similar couldn't be done on Vilnius-Daugavpils if it's really required. On the other hand Krakow-Mockava crew don't really speak Lithuanian on the PKP train which technically travels in the Lithuanian territory so I don't think this should be a real issue anywhere. Unless of course someone is very keen to politicize it.

Excellent question. About a month ago I travelled on the LTG Link train from Rīga to Kaišiadorys and approached one of the guards beween Rīga and Jelgava in Latvian (well I said "Sveiki, es nerunāju latviski. Vai jūs runājat angliski?" which means "Hello, I don't speak Latvian. Do you speak English?" if I'm not mistaken) and she didn't understand anything. The guard did wear an LTG uniform, not a Vivi one.

 

[stadler]

Excellent question. About a month ago I travelled on the LTG Link train from Rīga to Kaišiadorys and approached one of the guards beween Rīga and Jelgava in Latvian (well I said "Sveiki, es nerunāju latviski. Vai jūs runājat angliski?" which means "Hello, I don't speak Latvian. Do you speak English?" if I'm not mistaken) and she didn't understand anything. The guard did wear an LTG uniform, not a Vivi one.

Oh that seems very odd if staff working to and from Riga can not speak Latvian at all. I would expect Latvian speaking staff when going to and from their capital city. It could make communication difficult if two people can not speak each others languages but i suppose English or Russian would often suffice in such cases.

Maybe they swap staff at Riga and the Latvian speaking staff do the Riga to Valga section. I suppose the Lithuanian based crew might alight at Riga and have a six hour break while Latvian based crew do Riga to Valga and back. I doubt that they would do Riga to Valga with Lithuanian speaking staff but you never know.

 

[takno]

Oh that seems very odd if staff working to and from Riga can not speak Latvian at all. I would expect Latvian speaking staff when going to and from their capital city. It could make communication difficult if two people can not speak each others languages but i suppose English or Russian would often suffice in such cases.

Maybe they swap staff at Riga and the Latvian speaking staff do the Riga to Valga section. I suppose the Lithuanian based crew might alight at Riga and have a six hour break while Latvian based crew do Riga to Valga and back. I doubt that they would do Riga to Valga with Lithuanian speaking staff but you never know.

Riga itself is something like 50% Russian-speaking. In any case, if the staff had pretty basic Latvian, then they probably wouldn't understand somebody non-Latvian saying they don't speak Latvian in broken Latvian.

 

[Full Standing]

In any case, if the staff had pretty basic Latvian, then they probably wouldn't understand somebody non-Latvian saying they don't speak Latvian in broken Latvian.

That may be the case, I agree. But eveyone else I've talked to during my time there understood what I said, even some Kebab staff in Daugavpils who seemed to be native in Russian.

Maybe they swap staff at Riga and the Latvian speaking staff do the Riga to Valga section. I suppose the Lithuanian based crew might alight at Riga

I remember having seen the LTG Link crew alighting at Rīga when I travelled to there from Vilnius the other week. This is further substantiated by the following advert seen at Rīga central station which suggests that LTG Link is the operator on the Vilnius - Rīga section, whereas Vivi operates the Rīga - Valga section.

The image below shows an advert by LTG Link at Rīga central station advertising the daily Vilnius - Rīga - Tallinn train connection. It is bilingual in English and Latvian. One can see a map of the three Baltic states and the route the trains are taking. On the left of the advert, the timetable is displayed (only displaying the times at Tallinn, Valga, Rīga, and Vilnius). Notably, Elron is named as operator between Tallinn and Valga, Vivi between Valga and Rīga, and LTG Link between Rīga and Vilnius.

 

[gravitystorm]

Elron is named as operator between Tallinn and Valga, Vivi between Valga and Rīga, and LTG Link between Rīga and Vilnius.

When I made this journey over the summer, it was 100% Elron (staff and trains) in Estonia and very straightforward. Between Valga and Riga it was a mixture of staff, there were some LTG Link staff who appeared to me to speak Lithuanian and English, and one Vivi-uniformed staff member who spoke Lithuanian and was issuing tickets. From Riga to Šiauliai it was 100% LTG staff again speaking English and Lithuanian, as far as I could tell. While some of the conversations might have been in Russian, it was obvious between Valga and Riga that English was being used by some LTG staff members talking to the locals, not Latvian.

If you ask me, the Valga to Riga section is in reality being planned and operated by LTG. But perhaps to keep Vivi (and/or the Latvian government) happy, they claim that it's Vivi running that section and LTG are just sub-contractors, and the token member of staff is enough to keep up the charade. In my short experience with both LTG and Vivi, LTG were trying to make new things work and Vivi couldn't give two hoots about passengers or progress, so I suspect the whole thing is LTG's idea and energy going into it.

 

[Nigel]

IIRC from a couple of months ago. when travelling from Vilnius to Riga, some Vivi staff got on at Jelgava, but the LTG staff didn't off until Riga. Then when I travelled from Riga to Valga, it was a Vivi staff member who inspected our LTG-issued ticket and printed off a Vivi receipt for €0.00. However, on this stretch there was still someone wearing an LTG logo who was selling refreshments.