Lithuanian Railways (), abbreviated LTG, is the national state-owned railway company of Lithuania. It operates most of the railway network in the country. It has several subsidiary companies, but the main ones are: LTG Link which provides passenger services, LTG Cargo which provides freight service, and LTG Infra which is responsible for the maintenance and development of the infrastructure.
During 2022, Lithuanian Railways transported 4.69 million passengers and 31.0 million tonnes of freight; the majority of freight conveyed comprised oil products and fertilizers.
History and structure
Lietuvos Geležinkeliai was established in 1991 to operate the railways following the independence restoration. It provides numerous rail-related services, typically through its numerous subsidiary companies. While LTG Link is the provider for passenger services, while LTG Cargo is responsible for freight operations. Furthermore, another subsidiary, LTG Infra undertakes the maintenance and development of the railway infrastructure.
In 2008, in response to the Polish oil company PKN Orlen plans to reroute freight from its Lithuanian refinery at Mažeikiai to the Latvian port of Ventspils, the Lithuanian Railways unilaterally and intentionally dismantled the cross-border line to Latvia to prevent this. In 2017, the European Commission (EC) issued a €27.87 million fine to the Lithuanian Railways for breaching European Union (EU) competition law by the track's removal. In 2020, the cross-border line and the freight service was restored at a cost of €9.4m.
In May 2017, Lithuanian Railways was one of several companies that facilitated the launch of a new international tank container train service between Europe and China. In September of that same year, the first electrified cross-border trains started between Lithuania and Belarus. On 29 May 2018, the railway companies of the three Baltic states signed an agreement to launch a new intermodal freight service called Amber Train, linking Tallinn and Riga to the Lithuanian-Polish border at Šeštokai where they can be transhipped to the standard gauge network. EU funding was used to support some of these initiatives. During the late 2010s, there was a noticeable uptick in the volume of freight traffic traversing the Lithuanian rail network, along with corresponding increases in revenue.
Between 2018 and 2019, the company's Freight Transport, Passenger Transport and Railway Infrastructure Directorates were reorganized into separate companies, comprising LG CARGO, LG Keleiviams, and Lietuvos geležinkelių infrastruktura. The holding company LTG Group was also established, it remained a state owned enterprise; any excess profits not reinvested into the organisation is paid out to the Lithuanian government. A new group logo, mirroring the colours of the Lithuanian flag and symbolising movement, was also adopted at this time. During late 2020, the reorganisation was hailed for bolstering the competitiveness of Lithuania's railways and maintaining positive growth while also pursuing greater compliance with EU legislation.
One of the more high-profile infrastructure investments being made by LTG Infra in the wider Rail Baltica project, under which a standard gauge high-speed railway will be constructed between the Polish capital of Warsaw and the Estonian capital of Tallinn. The Lithuanian portion of the project involves a 392km line running north-south across the country as well as a new railway node being built in Kaunas to interface with the conventional network. Furthermore, during the late 2010s, a new strategy of widespread railway electrification was announced; specifically, a target for 39% of the Lithuanian rail network being electrified by 2030 was declared, a substantial increase over the 8% that already energised by 2020. Other areas of investment include track doubling, renovated communications, passenger information systems, energy efficiency schemes, routine maintenance, noise reduction, and track renewal programmes. In 2021, investment into key projects was reportedly doubled to €228.9 million, the majority of which was directed to infrastructure-related efforts.
