After the reconstruction of the railway section Gaižiūnai-Kaišiadorys, the train of the popular route Vilnius-Riga will be able to move faster in this section, so it became possible to make additional stops in Jonava and Kėdainiai while maintaining the same route time - the duration of the journey with additional stops from Vilnius to Riga will not change.
The train that started running on the Vilnius-Riga-Vilnius route at the end of last year has been running since April 1. will also stop in Jonava and Kėdainai. After the public railway infrastructure manager "LTG Infra" successfully completed the reconstruction of the railway section Gaižiūnai-Kaišiadorys, it became possible to redesign the route schedule, without changing the journey time, to add two additional stops.
"We invite the residents of Jonava and Kėdainiai to buy tickets to Riga from today and from April 1. travel directly from your city railway of the station. We are pleased that the infrastructure improvement works carried out by LTG Infra allow us to test pilot stops with cities where there was no convenient transfer option until now, without increasing the duration of the international route. This train is primarily focused on international transportation, so we aim to make it relevant to the public and competitive in terms of travel time and comfort compared to other means of transport," says "LTG Link" manager Kristina Meidė.
LTG Link manager Kristina Meidė says that the inclusion of these additional stops is a pilot project - the aim is to monitor how many passengers choose local and international routes, which will allow an objective assessment of the effectiveness and need for additional stops. Taking into account the obtained statistical results, it will be possible to model future schedules and new routes in the future. The deadline for the pilot project is set for the end of the year.
Until now, it was possible to travel on the daily Vilnius-Riga route from four Lithuanian cities: Vilnius, Kaišiadorių, Šiauliai and Joniškis - the first three cities rank among the stations with the largest passenger flows in Lithuania, and Joniškis was newly opened for train connections.
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The popularity of the daily Vilnius-Riga route is not waning, almost 16 thousand tickets were bought in three months. Mostly train drivers going to Riga from Vilnius - about 64 percent, about 16 percent every tenth passenger visits Riga from Šiauliai train driver - from Kaišiadori, about 7 percent. passengers go to Riga from Joniškis. The international route is relevant for families and young people - about 10 percent. passengers - children and schoolchildren.
