Lithuanian Railways - What to look out for?

[MajesticTrains]

I'm arriving in Lithuania today by rail from Poland, and I'm wondering what interesting rolling stock I should be on the lookout for.

As far as I'm aware, locomotive hauled services are back with refurbished coaches on the Klaipeda services, so might try and get a bash on them.

Would anyone know what time the Russian transit trains to Kaliningrad grad come through Vilnius?

Thanks for any information.

 

[shredder1]

I'm arriving in Lithuania today by rail from Poland, and I'm wondering what interesting rolling stock I should be on the lookout for.

As far as I'm aware, locomotive hauled services are back with refurbished coaches on the Klaipeda services, so might try and get a bash on them.

Would anyone know what time the Russian transit trains to Kaliningrad grad come through Vilnius?

Thanks for any information.

Vilnius has a lot to offer as a rail centre, we entered the country from Bialystok Poland on the then new standard gauge line, the railway museum is at the side of the station, and a few depots and yards west of the station, although theyd didnt appear to be happy about me photographing them from the road bridge. I didnt see any of the Russian transit trains while I was there, (2 days), we did however see quite a few Belarusian locos, I must go back someday, enjoy..

 

[stadler]

I'm arriving in Lithuania today by rail from Poland, and I'm wondering what interesting rolling stock I should be on the lookout for.

As far as I'm aware, locomotive hauled services are back with refurbished coaches on the Klaipeda services, so might try and get a bash on them.

Would anyone know what time the Russian transit trains to Kaliningrad grad come through Vilnius?

Thanks for any information.

Unfortunately no timetables are published for the Russia trains calling points within the Lithuanian border. The best you can do is see the times departing the last calling point and first calling point in Belarus and Russia or vice versa and make an estimate. But it will be a rough estimate so you will likely be waiting around for a while to see it.

There are eight daily trains (four in each direction) on the route currently:

Train 147Ч
****From Moscow****
23:53 00:10 Minsk
01:12 01:18 Molodechno
01:48 01:50 Smorgon
****Lithuania****
07:37 08:17 Chernyshevskoye
08:32 08:34 Nesterov
09:00 09:02 Gusev
09:22 09:26 Chernyakhovsk
10:04 10:06 Gvardeysk
10:44 Kaliningrad
****Terminates****

Train 425У
****From Chelyabinsk****
02:41 02:57 Minsk
03:56 03:58 Molodechno
04:25 04:27 Smorgon
****Lithuania****
10:18 10:58 Chernyshevskoye
11:13 11:15 Nesterov
11:41 11:43 Gusev
12:03 12:07 Chernyakhovsk
12:45 12:47 Gvardeysk
13:25 Kaliningrad
****Terminates****

Train 029Ч
****From Moscow****
04:58 05:15 Minsk
06:15 06:19 Molodechno
06:48 06:50 Smorgon
****Lithuania****
12:40 13:20 Chernyshevskoye
14:11 14:16 Chernyakhovsk
15:24 Kaliningrad
****Terminates****

Train 360С
****From Adler****
21:42 21:57 Minsk
23:03 23:06 Molodechno
23:33 23:35 Smorgon
****Lithuania****
05:23 06:03 Chernyshevskoye
06:18 06:20 Nesterov
06:46 06:48 Gusev
07:08 07:12 Chernyakhovsk
07:50 07:52 Gvardeysk
08:30 Kaliningrad
****Terminates****

Train 426Ч
****Originates****
09:55 Kaliningrad
10:29 10:31 Gvardeysk
11:04 11:07 Chernyakhovsk
11:26 11:28 Gusev
11:50 11:52 Nesterov
12:02 12:42 Chernyshevskoye
****Lithuania****
20:21 20:23 Smorgon
20:50 20:52 Molodechno
21:56 22:10 Minsk
****To Chelyabinsk****

Train 030Ч
****Originates****
12:55 Kaliningrad
13:52 13:57 Chernyakhovsk
14:39 15:19 Chernyshevskoye
****Lithuania****
22:50 22:52 Smorgon
23:17 23:19 Molodechno
00:20 00:36 Minsk
****To Moscow****

Train 360Ч
****Originates****
17:52 Kaliningrad
18:25 18:27 Gvardeysk
19:03 19:07 Chernyakhovsk
19:28 19:30 Gusev
19:52 19:54 Nesterov
20:06 20:46 Chernyshevskoye
****Lithuania****
04:24 04:26 Smorgon
04:51 04:54 Molodechno
06:05 06:33 Minsk
****To Adler****

Train 148Ч
****Originates****
20:35 Kaliningrad
21:08 21:10 Gvardeysk
21:46 21:50 Chernyakhovsk
22:12 22:14 Gusev
22:36 22:38 Nesterov
22:50 23:30 Chernyshevskoye
****Lithuania****
07:19 07:22 Smorgon
07:57 08:01 Molodechno
09:26 09:45 Minsk
****To Moscow****

If you come across any helpful railway staff then they might be able to tell you more accurately what times each of these trains come through Vilnius station but i would not count on them knowing.

 

[Segedunum]

When I visited in February 2023, they actually still displayed the Moscow trains on the departure boards at Vilnius despite it being impossible to board or alight. I recall one being sat ticking over around the time of the first train of the morning to Kaunas.

Look out for "Maskva" on the departure boards - they may well still advertise them.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Perhaps looking out for helicopters will help.

Lithuanian border guards deploy helicopter to monitor Russian transit trains

Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovic said the move aims to tighten supervision over trains traveling to and from Kaliningrad, a Russian military stronghold bordering Lithuania and Poland.

kyivindependent.com

Lithuanian border guards will begin using a helicopter to escort Russian trains transiting between Belarus and the Kaliningrad exclave, national broadcaster LRT reported on April 7.

Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovic said the move aims to tighten supervision over trains traveling to and from Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian military stronghold bordering Lithuania and Poland.

"We are now focusing on two priorities: improving the management of our national and EU external borders, and implementing the Migration and Asylum Pact," Kondratovic said.

The minister cited the region's shifting security landscape and new threats as driving factors behind the change. "Border guards remain vigilant and reliably protect the state border, so one of our priorities is to fully provide the service and employees with the necessary means," he added.

 

[stadler]

Perhaps looking out for helicopters will help.

Lithuanian border guards deploy helicopter to monitor Russian transit trains

Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovic said the move aims to tighten supervision over trains traveling to and from Kaliningrad, a Russian military stronghold bordering Lithuania and Poland.

kyivindependent.com

Haha that has to be one of the most ridiculous plans i have heard. What a ridiculous waste of money. Imagine how expensive that is. They have up to eight Russian trains a day (four in each direction) with a distance of approximately 150 Miles or 240 Kilometres on Lithuanian land. That will cost millions and millions to use helicopters to escort trains. Also it will get very annoying for passengers to have the constant noise of helicopters over the train. These are just harmless passenger trains full of ordinary civilian passengers. It is not like they are military trains. As far as i am aware there has been no issues with these Russian transit trains so far so it seems very odd to suddenly spend all this money on helicopters.