LTG Infra, the railway infrastructure manager within Lithuania’s state-owned railway group LTG, has announced the start of design work for the Kaunas Node section of the Rail Baltica project. It is one of the most complex sections of the rail corridor between Poland and Latvia, due to the interaction between the urban area, existing infrastructure, and the technical requirements of the new high-speed line.
Kaunas is of strategic importance in the Rail Baltica project, the European gauge main line that will connect the Baltic states to the Western rail network. This is where the 1,435 mm European gauge meets the existing 1,520 mm network, specific to the former Soviet space, forcing designers to find solutions for integrating the two systems.
One of the most difficult sections of the Rail Baltica corridor
According to LTG Infra, the Kaunas junction is considered one of the most complex sections on the Poland–Latvia segment. In addition to the intersection of the two track gauges, the project must be developed in a densely urbanized area, where the new railway infrastructure must be coordinated with existing roads, utility networks, and other infrastructure elements already in place.
Plans for this area include the development of the Palemonas Intermodal Terminal, the modernization of the infrastructure at Palemonas Station, and the construction of a bridge over the Kaunas Hydroelectric Power Plant. At the same time, the projects must comply with the standards of the European Union’s TEN-T network, which makes the Kaunas junction a challenge not only in terms of engineering, but also in terms of logistics and planning.
LTG Infra aims to build local expertise for the high-speed railway
The Lithuanian company says it established a Rail Baltica design division last year, conceived as a center of excellence for high-speed rail design. The goal is for this unit to complement the market and strengthen local design capacity at a time when Rail Baltica is entering increasingly complex phases.
In the long term, LTG Infra maintains that this division could offer expertise beyond Lithuania as it gains experience in designing modern infrastructure and high-speed rail lines, thereby contributing to the expansion of the European gauge network in the region.
“This ensures rapid and continuous infrastructure development. It is particularly relevant in such urbanized areas, where fundamental decisions must be made first, and their design can be carried out with the support of partners in this field,” said Vytis Žalimas, CEO of LTG Infra.
According to him, the division operates according to a model already applied in other European countries: some design activities will continue to be awarded through open tenders, while other tasks will be carried out using internal resources.
Kaunas, a future logistics and passenger hub
LTG Infra views Kaunas as one of the key points of the future Rail Baltica line in Lithuania. The company estimates that, once the high-speed line is completed, Kaunas International Station will serve more passengers daily than Vilnius and approximately three times as many as it does currently.
“Once the high-speed line is built, Kaunas International Station will serve more passengers daily than Vilnius and approximately three times as many passengers as it does today, making Kaunas an important logistics hub,” said Mykolas Dumbrava, head of the Rail Baltica design division.
This projection highlights the role LTG Infra assigns to the city of Kaunas in the architecture of the future Rail Baltica network, for both passenger transport and logistics flows.
Program to attract future engineers
LTG Infra says the new division has already attracted specialists with experience in high-speed rail design and has even encouraged the return to Lithuania of professionals who were working in countries with developed high-speed rail networks.
At the same time, the company has launched an educational program called Engineering Class, through which LTG Infra employees return to the schools they graduated from to present the Rail Baltica project as a potential career path.
The goal is clear: Lithuanian authorities and companies are seeking to increase the appeal of engineering careers and encourage young people’s interest in STEM fields, given that the number of students choosing technical and scientific majors is declining.
“The goal of the design division is to ensure the rapid implementation of projects, as well as the design of other railway lines and infrastructure projects needed in Lithuania, involving both foreign specialists and Lithuanians returning from abroad, as well as future engineers, whom we are already encouraging to pursue engineering studies and contribute to the economic growth of the Baltic region,” said Dumbrava.
Rail Baltica enters an increasingly critical phase
The start of design work for the Kaunas hub marks an important milestone for Rail Baltica in Lithuania, in an area where technical challenges are greater than on other sections.
The project must reconcile the requirements of a high-speed line with the realities of a historic rail network, a dense urban area, and existing infrastructure.
For Rail Baltica, however, the stakes extend beyond Lithuania’s borders. Kaunas is one of the key points of the corridor that is intended to connect the Baltic states to Poland and, through it, to the rest of the European standard-gauge rail network.
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