Baltic Railways Magazine 8 contained an article from Philip Wormald about his visit with PTG Tours to Estonia in the summer of 2011. BRMs 1 and 3 featured the appeal of the Siarukas in Lithuania for tourists. Likewise BRM4 did the same for the Banitis in Latvia. I have visited Lithuania many times since 2003, and in 2008 was on an enthusiasts tour of railway depots and workshops in Latvia and Lithuania, and hope to do the same in 2012 but including Estonia and Norway.

    The idea of people, other than the professionals who run the railways, taking an interest in railways as a hobby, is an alien concept to a population that lived for over fifty years under the control of the Soviet Union. As mentioned elsewhere in this issue, railways were of strategic (military) importance, so taking an interest in railways (as enthusiasts in Britain and other countries do) was regarded as spying. Clearly a rather dangerous hobby.

    The outcome is that visitors to the Baltic States find that the rail travel needs of railway enthusiasts and tourists cannot be met. The biggest problem is the lack of passenger trains on many of the routes. The PTG Tours visit was made by hired trains, an expensive but necessary expedient. My visit in 2008 with the Rail Europe Railway Enthusiasts Club was made by hired minibus, as will be the forthcoming tour in 2012. In other travels in Latvia and Lithuania, I have twice had to get from Riga to Panevėžys; easy if you look at the map, but there are no trains over the border, and only two trains per day between Šiauliai and Panevėžys (and that service I have read, is threatened with withdrawal). So you have no choice but to go by bus or car!…More in BRM9.

LG EM140 road control machine.

In these times of science and engineering, when technologies develop extremely rapidly, it is very important to keep pace with innovations. Those who lag behind are replaced by those who are faster, more innovative and flexible. Lietuvos Geležinkeliai AB is aware of this rule, and thus continuously invests in advanced and modern technologies. In addition to managing the most modern traction rolling-stock fleet in the East and Middle Europe, using shiny double-decker trains and comfortable railcars, and the impressive universal machinery DESEC TL-70 (which can also replace rails), the company can be proud of having purchased the EM140 road control machine.

 Measures with laser 

In June, the Austrian company Plasser & Theurer introduced one of its products, namely the EM140, which is one of the most up-to-date road control machines. This machine is designed for measuring geometrical parameters of the railroad in a contactless way, using a laser. In addition to making and recording measurements in two directions, this machine can also analyse road parameters, and so, on the basis of the reports obtained about the actual status of the road, immediate decisions can be made.

 Furthermore, the machine is equipped with clearance control equipment which allows making precise and speedy measurements. Besides, as the weight of EM140 is similar to that of a locomotive, the impact of loads on the road can also be evaluated.

 “This self-powered road control wagon meets European standards so is another important step in raising the technical level of Lithuanian Railways infrastructure up to the European level”, said Minister of Communications Mr Eligijus Masiulis during the event in June when the EM140 machine was ceremonially transferred to Lietuvos Geležinkeliai AB.

 The machine has equipment which can check radio connection and the GSM-R connection (which recently started to be used) in the trains; also, to ensure even more control, a road video recording system and a rail profile scanning system, as well as equipment for testing rolling-stock automatic control devices can be installed… More in BRM No:8.

The aim of the “Baltic Container Train” is to connect Finland and Austria. According to the plans, cargos from the Finnish company Navirail OÜ will be transported by the ferry line to the Estonian port Muuga. Here containers will be loaded on the flat container wagons and be carried by train on the Tallinn – Riga – Šeštokai – Vienna route. In Šeštokai Station in Lithuania, the containers will be transferred onto the wagons running on the European gauge lines. It is estimated that it will take one and a half days for a train to reach the Polish frontier, and four days to arrive in Austria. In the territory of Poland, transportation operations will be carried out by the private railway operator Rail Polska Sp.z.o.o.

From Vienna it will be possible to transport containers to other destinations, for example Italy, Greece, Hungary, the Balkan countries and Turkey. Also, the transit line will be used in the opposite direction, ie freight will be carried from Central Europe to the Baltic States (via Šeštokai) and Finland, as well as Russia, St Petersburg and Moscow.

During the initial period of operation, the train will run once a week. The train will be comprised of 20 wagons (30-40 TEU containers). Today the majority of cargos from Finland to the European countries are transported by sea and motor vehicles.

Information by BRM

The Estonian railway company Edelaraudtee AS, whilst undertaking national passenger transportation, is also looking for new ways of attracting customers. The company has repaired a steam locomotive which will haul chartered passenger trains in summer 2011. According to the initial plans, tourists will be carried on the route Tallinn – Pärnu.

The steam loco restoration was performed in April to August 2010. The loco was first tested on the route Türi-Lelle-Türi, and then in September it hauled two passenger carriages on the first official route Türi-Tallinn-Türi. The repaired loco L-3297 No. 15050 was manufactured in Lugansk (Ukraine) in 1953. Initially it was used in Russia, and in about 1963 it was transferred to the Baltic Railway Region where it was mainly operated from Tapa and Valga (Estonia) depots. In 1975 the loco was transferred to the strategic reserve where it has been kept for many years.

 Information by BRM

A huge turbine to be mounted in the block of Elektrėnai thermal power-station.

A huge turbine to be mounted in the block of Elektrėnai thermal power-station which is being constructed at present was carried by railroad. The shipment weighing even 400 tons also passed Tauragė.

Turbine for Elektrėnai thermal power-station has arrived to Lithuania. A huge 400-ton turbine was carried by ship to Klaipėda port. A difficult task to transport this big cargo to Elektrėnai has been assigned to the company “Lietuvos Geležinkeliai AB”. Considering the non-standard dimensions of the turbine, it was refused to transport it by other overland means of transport, as the cargo will not be able to pass bridges and viaducts; besides, a load of such huge weight may badly damage the surface of roads.

To transport a non-standard cargo, Lietuvos Geležinkeliai AB has rented from Ukraine a specially designed transporter-platform with 28 axes for carrying especially heavy freights. Furthermore, the train transporting the turbine was assembled in an unusual way: the locomotive was accompanied by the platform wagon with the testing frame which made measurements and informed if the huge cargo was to hit any obstacles on the way, six protection wagons making particular distance for a safe stop of the train, the accompanying wagon, and the platform with turbine and the protection wagon at the very end.

The train maintained a specially determined speed throughout the entire trip. Due to the unusual dimensions of the freight, in some places the railwaymen had to dismantle signal traffic lights, and stop the train movement to the opposite direction in two-track sections.

 In the morning of November the 17^th the unusual train started its trip from Klaipėda and at 3 p.m. arrived to Tauragė (to be more precise, the railway bridge over the Jūra River). Drivers of the train took all precautions, driving the train at the speed of 4-5 km/hr across the bridge. Nevertheless, the extraordinary train experienced an incident while passing the town: in the midway between the bridge and railway station the upper part of the turbine hit the traffic light and consequently the train had to be stopped. Successfully, the traffic light was not damaged badly, and after having removed the obstacle, the train continued its trip
This cargo transportation operation which is unique in Lithuania lasted a couple of days. We would like to thank Tauragė Cable Television for possibility to use its reportage. A more detailed story will be published in the nearest BRM issue.

 One of the largest cargos in the history of Lithuanian railways

Information by BRM

Locomotives M62-1037 and TEP70-0517 at Kaliningrad railways station 26/10/2009. Doug Weston photo.

My trip was inspired after reading about the railways of the Kaliningrad Oblast and Lithuania in Today‘s Railways Europe a UK magazine you maybe familiar with. My friend and travel companion Andy and I were interested in seeing and travelling behind the huge Russian/Lithuanian locomotives and therefore planned a trip from Poland to Lithuania via the Kaliningrad

Oblast hopefully travelling behind a mixture of M62, TEP60, TEP70 and TEP70BS locomotives.Our planned itinerary took us from Tczew in Poland behind PKP loco SU46.004 to the border station of Mamonovo where RZD standard guage loco M62-1475 continued to Kaliningrad with our 2 coach train. The following morning we left Kaliningrad for Vilnius this time our train was powered by one of the huge TEP70-0517 locomotives which worked as far as Nesterov where it was replaced by an LG locomotive Tep60.923 a very noisy/impressive engine which continued to Vilnius before itself  being replaced by BCh TEP70BS-008  for the journey onwards to Minsk.After our overnight stay in Vilnius we travelled out to Kaisiadorys behind  TEP70BS-003 hoping that perhaps the train back to Vilnius might be powered by one of the new ER20 locomotives as we had read reports of these freight engines working the occasional passenger train but it wasn’t to be as the train arrived behind TEP70BS-004 which we took back to Vilnius.Due to permanent way (track) work which involved single line working our arrial back at Vilnius was some 25 minutes late where we encountered our first real problem of the trip.We were intending to catch the train back to Kaunus 1 for a bus to the airport for our flight home but alas the train was cancelled fortunately we were able to catch a bus getting to the airport with an hour to spare.There were no real negatives on our trip apart from the cancelled train, a couple of options we feel would maybe improve travel in the Baltic States would be a  daytime travel option to ride in open style coaches for better all round vision as compared to the restricted view within compartments  and secondly an  interrail style rover ticket avoiding the need to purchase individual tickets for every trip.

Overall the trip was a complete success we managed to travel behind  4 different types of locomotive we were able to take photographs without any problems the trains and stations were spotlessy clean and despite what some travel guides would have you believe everyone we met was friendly and helpful including staff and customs officers, the hotels and food were excellent.  We would recommend a visit to Lithuania and the Kaliningrad Oblast (Russia) to anyone out there who maybe considering such a trip in the future.

The inspection on 05/11/2009was at Tauragė Railway Station. BRM photo

Inspection of Lithuanian Railways 
At this time of the year, Lithuanian Railways does its autumn inspection.
We look at how different departments of the company prepare for the winter season.
LG do two inspections per year in spring and autumn.  

London. Photo Žilvinas Urbutis

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