2024-07-08 01:24:04
The Embassy of Lithuania in Prague (Czech Republic) recently shared good news – the Gepard Express company wants to test several new train routes from 2025, and one of the new destinations that is being considered to be offered to travelers is a train trip from Prague to Kaunas. The test drive can take place as early as August.
Minister of Transport M. Skuodis did not officially confirm this news, but mentioned on the social network that the visit to Prague, which took place just a few weeks ago, was productive.
A little earlier, the LTG group itself confirmed that three international train routes have been identified in the operational strategy until 2027, and one of them is the connection between Kaunas and Berlin (Germany).
It may appear to some that a truly grand event is being planned, but one should not forget that in pre-war Lithuania, traveling by train from Kaunas to Berlin was a completely normal route, so in 2027 we may have an opportunity that the country’s residents already used almost 100 years ago.
Of course, modern trains should run incomparably faster, but the experience with the previously built “Rail Baltica” railway section from Kaunas to the Polish border strongly doubts this.
Now, the journey from Kaunas to Warsaw (Poland) takes 7 hours 30 minutes and loses significantly to car transport. When the “Via Baltica” highway is built from Marijampolė to the Polish border, traveling by car will be even more attractive, as roads of impeccable quality on the Polish side already stretch all the way to the capital of the neighboring country.
For those from Kaunas who want to reach Warsaw even faster, they can choose a flight by plane. With all the inevitable procedures at the airport, the trip will take only 3-4 hours, and tickets often cost only a few tens of euros.
Flights in this direction lack stability, but now and then another airline decides to offer them, so the demand is probably not bad.
Choosing a train trip to the capital of Poland can now only be done by a person who does not have any specific plans and does not count time, who is ready to wander wherever his eyes lead.
No one disputes the strategic importance of the Rail Baltica railway line between the three Baltic countries and Poland, but the ordinary traveler has almost no chance to take advantage of its advantages.
Now a passenger train from Kaunas to Warsaw runs daily. In order to really get passengers used to using trains, to give them the opportunity to use convenient connections in the capital of a neighboring country, they should run at least 3-4 times a day and at a much higher speed.
The builders of Rail Baltica promised to correct these shortcomings. Perhaps, but there were so many and so many promises that it becomes more and more difficult to believe each time.
The project, which has been in progress since 2017, has increased in value by about 4 times, and in the coming years, as much as 19 billion can be generated. euro deficit.
The celebration of the complete completion of the Rail Baltica route has already been postponed several times. The last published date was 2030, but there is little doubt that it will be changed again.
A whole generation of population could change before the project is completed and passengers can use the trains as the people of many Western European countries do.
For now, announcements about future connections between Kaunas and Prague or Berlin are just a nice PR campaign.
Eight years ago, the state company “Lietuvos oro uostai” (LTOU) announced that it would provide support to air carriers that would agree to take direct flights from Lithuania to Beijing (China), Chicago, New York (USA) or Tokyo (Japan). In total, there were 30 destinations on the list at that time.
The management of the company seriously considered the possibility of opening a direct flight from Kaunas to the capital of Japan. All grandiose plans have failed, there is not a single so-called traditional airline left at Kaunas airport, and now most of the flights consist of routes intended for emigrants.
2024-07-08 01:24:04