“The aim of the exoskeletons trial is to get as many employees as possible to try them out, and their personal experiences and opinions will be assessed”, LTG said. The initiative will involve employees from different LTG Groups: the freight division LTG Cargo, the infrastructure manager LTG Infra, the passenger division LTG Link and the Railway Construction Centre.

The whistles are expected to help reduce environmental risks, contribute to the preservation of biodiversity, and reduce economic losses. Besides the environmental and ethical challenges, wildlife collisions also result in traffic disruptions and significant financial losses, such as the costs of rolling stock repairs and railway infrastructure maintenance or compensation for losses suffered by passengers.

Tried and tested

“Taking into account the experience of railway companies in foreign countries – Poland, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain and Hungary – it has been found that sound and visual deterrents can reduce the number of collisions with wild animals by as much as 85–93%”, says LTG. “Although it is currently impossible to completely eliminate the risk of collisions, it is expected to assess the effectiveness of the selected sound measure.”

The pilot project primarily uses the SIREN7 equipment, produced by a Hungarian manufacturer. This system has a proven track record, having been successfully tested on PKP Intercity trains in Poland. In Lithuania, 13 LTG Link trains are already equipped with SIREN7, and by autumn, 16 LTG Cargo mainline locomotives will also be integrated into the project.

Visual measures

An early test has come back with positive results: No negative effects were observed, and according to the drivers, wild animals react faster and move away from the tracks, according to LTG. The final results of the pilot project will be evaluated in the second half of 2026.

LTG also plans to test visual measures next year. Those include special animal-repellent reflectors installed along a dozen kilometres of tracks.

The move into the Ukrainian rolling stock market could be seen as a surprise. Earlier reports from Ukraine suggested that the wagon lease market is oversaturated, with rental prices for a wagon between two and four euros per day.

Yet, LTG Cargo is positive. “Looking ahead, we view the Ukrainian market with a long-term perspective. The rolling stock in the country is worn out and has suffered significant damage due to the war. Ukraine’s reconstruction will undoubtedly require robust rail logistics and rolling stock”, a company representative explains.

Wagons and shunting locomotives

The head of LTG Cargo Ukraine, Saulius Stasiūnas, went on to explain that rolling stock in the country is needed. “At the beginning of the war in Ukraine, freight traffic fell by half – from 314 million tonnes in 2021 to 151 million tonnes in 2022 – but in recent years it has been gradually increasing.”

“The industry in the country has adapted and is operating, so rolling stock is needed for freight transport and work at terminals. Most of the wagons we plan to lease are covered wagons, which can be used to transport various cargoes, from construction materials to food products, and platforms for transporting containers.”

The majority of LTG Cargo Ukraine’s wagons are already leased, and discussions are currently underway regarding the leasing of shunting locomotives of type ChME3. Those have been modernised in Vilnius last autumn.

Future expansion

LTG Cargo Ukraine plans to expand its rolling stock fleet to better serve Ukrainian businesses, says LTG Cargo. Over the next two years, the company will acquire an additional 120 wagons and it expects to add 2M62K mainline locomotives to its fleet. Furthermore, the arrival of new electric locomotives in Lithuania could also lead to the addition of Siemens diesel locomotives to LTG Cargo Ukraine’s fleet.

The portfolio of LTG Cargo Ukraine’s customers for freight forwarding services is now managed by LTG Cargo Polska, LTG Cargo’s Polish subsidiary.

“We understand the role of the Lithuanian railway infrastructure in ensuring military mobility and preparation for the country’s defense – it is a special element that ensures the redeployment of forces”, commented Egidijus Lazauskas, CEO of the LTG Group.

“LTG Cargo has accumulated experience in project transportation, transporting military equipment and soldiers of NATO allies both in Lithuania and on international routes.”

The King’s Strike

During the so-called “King’s Strike 2025” exercise, LTG Cargo transported military equipment, but there were also passenger wagons attached to the train. Some of the participating soldiers travelled on board the train.

The exercise has provided LTG Cargo with valuable experience, its CEO Eglė Šimė said. Šimė added that the railways are important transport lines for the arrival of NATO troops to the Baltic region, particularly due to their ability to transport large amounts of equipment and personnel quickly.

Biofuel HVO

Besides the military exercise, LTG Cargo embarked on a sustainability adventure. Two of the company’s locomotives will run on hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) for the coming 18 months. HVO is widely seen as a more environmentally friendly alternative to diesel, with claimed emission reductions of around 90%.

LTG Cargo is already running a shunting locomotive on HVO, and a Siemens mainline locomotive will join the pilot in a few months.

The operator hails HVO100, the type of HVO that it will be testing, as completely free from fossil fuels. It is supposed to be completely sourced from renewable raw materials, such as cooking oil and animal fats.

“Leaders from the transport ministry explained to us a month ago that building to Salaspils within seven to eight years is not possible”, Kulbergs explained. Salaspils is a town right next to capital city Riga, still a long way from the Estonian border.

“Then the next stage – to Estonia. We still do not have documentation, a design. Well, and the financing, in Latvia it’s a minimum of 2,7 billion euros, we don’t have those resources”, the parliamentarian continued. There seems to be very little progress on a completed standard-gauge railway to Latvia’s northern neighbour.

Not even before 2035?

Moreover, Estonian politician and Head of the Anti-Corruption Committee Anastassia Kovalenko-Kõlvart also has a rather pessimistic view of the situation. “Currently, our colleagues from Latvia let us know that there will be no railway before 2035.” That would be a new worst-case scenario for Rail Baltica.

All the while, finishing the railway on time remains crucial. Around 85% of its funding comes from the EU, which wants to see the line completed by 2030. Otherwise, the project could lose out on one billion euros in European financing. That would be a setback for Rail Baltica, especially considering that Latvia’s primary obstacle to finishing its part on time mostly relates to a lack of funding.

Minor role for freight

Expectations are that freight will play only a minor role in a completed Rail Baltica. A cost-benefit analysis estimated the goods will contribute only 5% of the economic gains. However, it could provide a new livelihood for Baltic rail operators that have lost a big part of the business due to sanctions against Russia. The railway would also be highly important from a military perspective.

“Our goal is to ensure the security not only of Lithuania but also of the European Union”, Lithuanian interior minister Vladislav Kondratovič said. “The smooth operation of the Special Transit Scheme is an important international commitment, and we approach its implementation with great responsibility, especially considering the geopolitical situation and potential security threats. […] This is an opportunity for us to strengthen our capabilities, and the newly acquired aircraft will help us monitor train transit to and from the Kaliningrad region more effectively and respond to potential incidents in a timely manner.”

Rail ferries

Russia is making an attempt to phase out overland transit to Kaliningrad. EU sanctions restrict what Russia can supply to its exclave region, and the European bloc could theoretically close the rail corridor altogether. Moscow sees this as a threat and has set up rail ferries in the Baltic Sea to reduce its dependence on Lithuania.

This new setup for Kaliningrad logistics has a downside: It is rather slow. Delivery times can last from ten up to twenty days.

Fewer Russian goods on EU rail

Earlier, EU sanctions limited the amount of freight that Russia could transport to its exclave Kaliningrad via rail. Road transportation was not a viable alternative, because the EU does not allow sanctioned goods on trucks. As a result of the sanctions, the rail transit volume through Lithuania shrunk by 30 per cent in 2024. Only the quota for cement supplies reportedly grew by 20,000 tonnes.

Currently, there are around 30 ships providing freight transportation services to Kaliningrad from Russia. With the newly announced service, four rail ferries have started operating on the route.

Last year, Russia announced plans to build extra rail ferries to send rail freight to the exclave across the Baltic Sea. The head of the region said at the time that he wanted to achieve “total independence” from the EU for logistics needs. By the end of 2024, the volume of subsidies to support sea shipping to Kaliningrad amounted to 4,6 billion rubles (48 million euros).

Transit through Lithuania to Kaliningrad has thus shrunk by 30 per cent over the past year. Only the quota for cement supplies has reportedly grown by 20,000 tonnes. The transit reduction forces Russia to look for alternative modes of transportation – with sea shipping being the only real other option.

Currently, there are around 30 ships providing freight transportation services to Kaliningrad from Russia. Last year, Russia announced plans to build extra rail ferries to send rail freight to the exclave across the Baltic Sea. The head of the region said at the time that he wanted to achieve “total independence” from the EU for logistics needs. By the end of 2024, the volume of subsidies to support sea shipping to Kaliningrad amounted to 4,6 billion rubles (48 million euros)

Russian ban on dual-use goods

Both Russia and the EU have imposed limitations on transiting freight. For its part, Russia introduced a new ban on dual-use civilian-military goods transiting its territory to the EU from October 2024. It is possible that that is leading to a decrease in freight transiting Russia in the China – Europe direction.

From Russia’ GTT to the European Vehicle Register

Traditionally, rail freight services in the Baltics relied on the Russian GTT system, which included sharing data on rolling stock and cargo to the Kremlin. However, a new platform to register broad-gauge platform wagons to the European Vehicle Register now makes this procedure unnecessary. A test for this new type of service was launched at the beginning of 2024.

“It is the first time in the history of the restored Independence of Lithuania, when a train moves in the Baltic States based on the data of European Vehicle Register, based on the European certificate of Entities in Charge of Maintenance and – the most important! – without providing any redundant data to the Russian systems”, said the CRO of Lithuanian Railways Gediminas Seckus.