A couple of days ago, Lithuanian Railways got firsthand experience of military rail transport.

LTG loads tanks on trains

It is reported by the railway magazine Railway Supply with reference to railfreight.

US troops loaded military equipment at the Palemonas transshipment base in Vilnius for the first time. “It was a scary but exciting sight,” Indre Glaniauskienė, head of intermodal terminals LTG Infra, said in a LinkedIn post.

“LTG Infra is in the process of adapting civilian infrastructure to military needs,” she added.

Indeed, the first loading of military equipment on trains in Palemonas is part of the EU military mobility fund, which aims to improve infrastructure for military and civilian purposes.

About 160 million euros will go to the railways. The purpose of the funding is to develop infrastructure suitable for dual use: not only for regular transportation, but also for the movement of heavy military equipment.

Like the rest of the Baltic States, Lithuania ranks first in the list of countries that will receive funding for this purpose.

The Baltic states, all of which border Russia, are improving their infrastructure to increase military mobility. The largest amount goes to Estonia, where the Estonian Defense Investment Center will receive 31 million to expand communications with Estonia’s largest military base in Tapa.

Part of the plans include upgrading the rail infrastructure between Palupera-Puka and Puka-Keeni stations in order to “improve the quality of the infrastructure, the speed of trains and, if necessary, support military rail logistics,” said Kaido Zimmermann, Chairman of the Board of Eesti Railway Manager.

LTG Infra, which operates Lithuanian railways, is receiving about $13 million to improve handling equipment at Palemonas.

The Latvian Ministry of Transport will receive about $5 million to integrate military mobility requirements into the Latvian part of the Rail Baltica project, a new railroad linking the three countries.

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