Brand New International Train Vilnius - Riga in LTG Link First Class Cabin
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- čas přidán 4. 06. 2024
- Train: LTG Link 889
From: Vilnius Central Railway Station (Vilniaus gelezinkelio stotis) , Lithuania
To: Riga Central Railway Station (Rīgas Pasazieru stacija), Latvia
Route via: Kaisiadorys, Radviliskis, Siauliai, Joniskis, Jelgava
Border Lithuania with Latvia: Meitene (Gr)
Train operator: LTG Link, Lietuvos gelezinkeliai
Travel Class: First Class
Scheduled Departure Time from Vilnius: 06h30 Eastern European Time
Scheduled Arrival Time in Riga: 10h43 EET
Scheduled Travel time (Vilnius - Riga) : 4 hours and 13 minutes
Railway distance (Vilnius - Riga) : 350 km
Travel season: January 2024
Ticket bought on: ltglink.lt
Ticket fare (First Class) : EUR 34
Occupancy rate on train (Siauliai - Riga) : around 95%
Diesel multiple unit type and registration: 730ML 006
Built by: PESA Bydgoszcz, Poland in 2016
Maximum speed: 140 km/h
Special: Russian Railways Train No. 029 Yantar Moscow - Minsk - Kaliningrad
00:00 Preview Summary
01:51 Vilnius Central Railway Station
03:41 Train Vilnius - Riga
05:55 Russian Train Moscow-Kaliningrad
08:15 First Class catering
10:23 Winter Sunrise over Lithuania
12:09 LTG Cargo depot in Radvikiskis
13:19 Siauliai, Lithuania
14:27 Siauliai - Jelgava branch line
17:12 Border Lithuania with Latvia
18:13 Jelgava, Latvia
20:33 Riga Central Railway Station
Wow you are quick! I didn't expect a report of this trip just 1 month after its debut :D
The schedule is not very convenient but I hope this will be just a temporary solution until the standard gauge Rail Baltica line is finished. At 21:11 you can see the works of the new Riga central station that will host the high speed trains from Poland, Lithuania and Estonia
well, railwaylineT has a report already out on that train
I can’t wait for the rail Baltica, I’m from Latvia and I want to go to Germany and Netherlands to visit my friends there
This train service will absorb some parts of bus passengers between Vilnius and Riga..
yes; buses are not needed between vilnius and riga; a train is so much more comfortable
I was on this train, this video such a nice souvenir! I can even see myself entering the station at 21:59.
yes; the train was quite full between siauliai and riga
Finland thanks!!! ❤
you are welcome !
Nice video a about this desperately needed new connection.
yes; and lots of people were using that train on that day; this train will give the bus operators vilnius-riga a run for their money
Excellent video. Always appreciate your work. Also, please note, there are more differences in 1st and 2nd class of this train: the armrests. 1st class seats have two separate armrests between them while 2nd class only has one. Also isn't there more legroom in the 1st class?
This service was really necessary. It's outrageous that there was no train connection between Vilnius and Riga for so long. They should, of course, improve this service. First of all make it run a bit later, perhaps 8 or 9AM to make it more convenient for most people. Also, speed up the train between Šiauliai ant LT/LV border where it currently goes at only 80km/h. And, of course, have another train depart Riga in the morning which will effectively increase the frequency to 2 trains a day and make it more convenient for everyone. I really hope LTG as well as Latvian Railways are aware of this and are going to improve things.
oki; i thought the early departure from vilnius was chosen in order to allow passenger to connect to the valga(estonia) train in riga.
@@doc7austin That's an interesting theory, but for now the most important thing should be convenience of passengers travelling from Vilnius to Riga as this is what most passengers will do. I doubt there will be many passengers travelling from Vilnius all the way to Valka or Estonian destinations. 6.30 is just a bit too early for most people.
the train was very empty in vilnius; most passengers joined us in Šiauliai
Cool journey. It's s pity but there is no good connection in Valga now. In the late 2010s it was existing and it was possible to continue from Valga to Tallinn by Elron near 14.20-14.30. But at that time there was no direct connection Vilnius-Riga.
yes; currently one needs to wait almost 3 hours in valga for the enron train to tallinn
yes, it could be cool to start from Vilnius at 6.30am and arrive to Tallinn at 6.00pm, but direct buses Vilnius-Tallinn take just 8h30m-9h20m and the ticket can cost 15 to 27 Euros. Much longer train connection will cost double or triple (24+5+18).
Attractive dieseliner and paint scheme.
yes it is
Great to watch your videos as always 🙏
you are welcome !
Enjoyed the sun rise, surely it would make sense for each country to provide one return trip per day. Missed your usual relaxing music on this video.
you mean some music in the introduction ?
Yes please@@doc7austin
That Russian train isn't the 029, it is the 079 (St Petersburg to Kaliningrad). That one runs less frequent and runs about 2 hour before the 029. It perfectly fits with the time (the 029 arrives in Vilnius a bit later) and consist (the 029 is longer and also has a postal car).
good hint - from the EU it is almost impossible to find out the timetable for russian trains, esp. when they have a technical stop in vilnius
@@doc7austin luckily not totally impossible. I managed to find it in order to get some photo's and video's of it in Lithuania. And in the end it's even easier to find than you might expect: it's on google maps and on screens at Vilnius station (go to platform 4 and watch through the glass wall of the old border checks).
are these timetables (when the russian trains have their technical stops in vilnius) on the internet available ?
@@doc7austin I can't even find Russian sources for technical stops in Vilnius. Perhaps this information is no longer being released to the public.
For a part of the line it went through East Prussia Memel and Tilsit which is how they are known in German. Therefore the railway went From the German Empire to the Russian Empire 130 years ago with extensions 108 years ago. Speaking of the Lithuanian Railway yard you were in earlier the M62 locomotives are called Taigatrommel do to their loud noises in the former German Democratic Republic this was DR Baureihe 120 2TE109 Belarusian railways DR Baureihe 130-132 142 Ludmilla
but these M62/Taigatrommel diesel locos were built in Luhansk, Ukrainian SSR ?
@@doc7austin they are made there in Ukraine and then exported to the former German Democratic Republic. in the case of Lithuania Latvia they were part of the Soviet Union until the year 1990 1991 when they became independent from the Soviet Union. If you are kept up with the situation in Ukraine the locomotive Factory is defunct as of right now or taken over by the Russian government to make more thanks for the war over there
@@EpicThe112 "Luhanskteplovoz" does not exists at the moment. The owner of Luhanskteplovoz was"Transmaсhholding" from 2007 year. At beginning of the war in 2014, its equipment was partially moved to an other "Transmaсhholding" factory in Bryansk (Russia) and other part was looped. Now, the Bryansk factory continue production of some Luhansk locos like 2TE25K.
@@user-vq1hg1eo9k okay then for telling me about it because I'm familiar with American and Western European manufacturers of locomotives but not the former Soviet Union Ukraine and Russia.
and nothing new... before our Rebirth and even in its year, the Vilnius-Riga train ran... and it still stopped in Kaunas and stopped more often than now...🤠
during the soviet years ?
@@doc7austin also at the beginning of Independent Lithuania, at least the first decade...
Oh! This looks cold! Fun, too.
yes; it was cold during my journey; temperates well below -10C
Seems an interesting trip. I checked the timetable for the train from Klaipeda, but it seems there is no connections possible, it arrives 8:52 in Siauliai, while officially, the train to Riga leaves at 8:51. Even if there are few passengers who would make this connection, it's a complete idiocy to make it literally impossible to do so with the only train a day, when just a few minutes would suffice to allow it...
you can actually spot the klaipeda-vilnius train in my video; it arrives right as our riga-bound train is leaving siauliai
@@doc7austin yep, that's what prompted me to look up up if it was possible to leave Klaipeda and change for Riga. Apparently, they don't want you to be able to do that, which seems crazy to me.
@barvdw i think ltg link will improve the schedule later this year; i heard that latvian railways was not really easy to deal with; there is a big construction site between jelgava and riga
@@doc7austin let's hope so, I mean, this is just low-hanging fruit. A 5-10' schedule change could be enough.
The schedule will change during the 2nd half of this year, when the electrification works in Lithuania are done. Then there will be a connection between the train from Klaipeda (which will leave Klaipeda 16 minutes earlier) and the one to Riga.
If only Elron would make a Tallinn-Riga service.
They wanna make a Tartu-Riga one but that doesn't really change the situation in terms of travelling to Tallinn.
but on such a service - would passengers be allowed to travel between two stations wholly within latvia ?
Haven’t you heard about the rail Baltica which will connect all the Baltic States Capitals to Finland and western countries like Netherlands, Germany, etc. in Riga, they have already began the construction of it near the Central Market.
Nice video👍
Good video! 🙂
Thanks! 😊
Muito bom esses videos, parabens e continue fazendo esse belo trabalho ! Saudacoes aqui do brazil !
sure !
You are really fast! Did you new Skoda commuter trains in Riga ?
no; i only saw the commuter trains, which were built in the soviet times
@@doc7austin Actually there is one at 21:11
ah; i will check my video again )))
May I ask what camera you use? The image quality is very good.
iphone 14
The high floor on these trains is comically high, compared to the low floor...
but why is this?
@@doc7austin Sorry, are you asking about the technical reason, or why does this specifically bother me?
@@doc7austin perhaps because part of the train has low floor, there was no need to comprimise when it comes to high floor areas
Doc, did you try the new Latvian local trains, the new ViVi's?
good question - i have continued on a classic vivi DR1 diesel multiple unit to valga, estonia
18:22 No, LTG Link don't sell tickets for trips between Jelgava and Riga.
I found that information on LTG site: "Tickets are not sold for the trips from Jelgava to Riga and from Riga to Jelgava, and there are no local passenger services within the territory of the Republic of Latvia (from Jelgava to Riga and from Riga to Jelgava)."
And this is good, because Jelgava pasengers have regular electric train service to Riga. They also completely occupy trains to Dobele and Liepāja.
but i guess with a Šiauliai - Riga ticket, one can use that train only between Jelgava and Riga
@@doc7austin yes, you can buy ticket to Joniškis from Riga and leave train in Jelgava. I doubt one could be allowed to enter the train in Jelgava heading to Riga.
@kapliskaple6366 the train has 3 doors; i dont think the train attendants will prohibit passengers entering in jelgava, who are holding a joniskis-riga ticket
Отличное видео только как ты в нем поехал?
16:48 - what app did you use?
the GPS app is called Compass 55
@@doc7austin Thank you :)
I'm cold just watching the scenery, and I live in the Caribbean!
The cold is not that bad as long as you have heating at home and some good clothing!
There's something worse: the darkness. Countries so far up north have very few hours of daylight in winter, and that affects you physically (lack of vitamin D) and emotionally.
Fun fact: due to the combination of short days and cloudy skies, Vilnius only saw 3h of direct sunlight last December. 3h of sun in a whole month, imagine that!
i wish there would be any trains in the caribbean- does cuba have regular passenger trains ?
@doc7austin As a matter of fact, they do! What a ride that would be! I have a small organic banana farm on St John US Virgin Islands. If you find your way over here, it would be my pleasure to give you a tour! Great channel, my friend!
I want to ride through this route, I want to do it in May, when it will be light
yes, currenty in the winter; departure from or arrival into vilnius is always during the dark hours
Do you think it's worth the money to pay 10€ extra for 1st class if the only difference was the seating material? Planning a trip from Tallinn to Vilnus by train for summer 😊
usually the 1st class cabin is less busy than the 2nd class cabin
This is Polish train - PESA company
yes; Pesa Bydgoszcz
It is a Polish MADE train, not a Polish train, to be exact
Ah Soviet architecture ❤️
oh ja, it is
Yea, that line opening is super cool. Im although more exited as an estonian for the Riga - Tartu line. That will speed up things even more skipping the 3h wait period on the latvian estonian border. And it's going to be fine to change trains in tartubas it makes more sense. Basically oif we manage to make an agreement with latvians, they will serve a part of estonia for us😅😂
Riga - Tartu; you are speaking about rail baltica ?
@@doc7austin no, he/she means a direct diesel train between Tartu and Riga run by Elron.
Is there a connection between Berlin and Tallinn by train?
yes; berlin - tallinn works;
1) berlin-warsaw
2) warsaw-mockava-vilnius
3) vilnius-riga
4) riga-valga
5) valga-tallinn
yes I did that last year, but the link between Riga and Vilnius was missing
When Rail Baltica becomes a thing it will probably be a much better option. Now you could probably get a train from Berlin to Stockholm and do the ferry over to Tallinn as well.
There is some development of the railway infrastructure and train connections in the Baltic states but still the Lithuanian Railways, for example, transport less passengers in a year than all the Polish railway companies in a single week !
What you expect?
Population:
Poland 38,036,118
Lithuania 2,870,191
:)
If we compare China VS Poland which have more train passengers ?
:)
but for such a small country - ltg link has a good network out of vilnius
@@doc7austin The service was really good and price wise it was magnificent when I visited there last year - I wonder if they are making profit or a loss
@@aronlau8327 I don't know about Lithuania, but in Latvia passenger travel via rail is subsidised by the government. And like half of it or something. And as far as i know, ticket prices in Lithuania don't differ much from Latvian. So make your conclusions
LTG Link has also decided to go through Jelgava connection, because, just like in the video, the passenger flow would be higher. Just lice Doc mentioned 2 people paid extra booking online from a Lithuanian stop so they could get to Riga from Jelgava to be able to use that schedule LOL. US LITHUANIANS KNEW IT WAS A GOOD ROUTE, LATVIANS KNEW HOW TO MAKE GO-AROUND to get to Riga!:) Aren't Latvians and Lithuanians smart? :)
well; the route via jelgava is much shorter than via daugavpils
Railways in Baltic countries are not electrified?
most lines are not electrified indeed
@@doc7austin The main ones are electrified, i.e. Riga-Aizkraukle, Rīga-Skulte and Rīga-Jelgava
Rail Baltica Project is going to be huge since therew ill be a tunnel between Sweden and Finland built after that will allow for a Baltic Sea rail loop
hmmmm; i dont think a tunnel is ever going to be built between estonia and sweden
@@doc7austin finland and sweden. There are videos and articles about it. Its one of the main future projects of Europe stated by the E.U.... as one video stated, it will be built to allow any individuals along the Baltic Sea coast will be able to wake up and go to any other major city along the Baltic Sea for a busness meeting and make it back home before dark.
its between estonia & finland, not between sweden & estonia@@cliffwoodbury5319
@@cliffwoodbury5319 what does a tunnel between Finland and Sweden have to do with Rail Baltica? Rememer that Estonia doesn't have land connection to Finland. And you don't have to be an expert to see that a tunnel between Estonia and Finland will never be built. Unless the population in these two and neighbouring countries increases like 10 times at least, in order to make such an insane project worthwhile. But is that ever going to happen? I doubt it.
@@doc7austin Maybe one day it will be built, but not in the next 15 years. Most likely 2040 and later.
Riga-Vilnius train: Fixed ticket price, more than 4 hours travel time, infrequent schedule.
Riga-Vilnius bus: Adaptive ticket pricing, 16 euro next day down to 5 euro on further dates, same or less travel time (3h 30min for some routes), much more frequent schedule.
So where's the train appeal exactly? It's nice to have it, but I don't really see a reason not to take a bus instead. Train's more cozy, maybe.
i guess train travel is always more comfortable than bus travel
it's really cheaper to travel by bus...and coffee is free🤪
👌🇧🇬✌️
howdy )))
Why no voiceover?
Well, I want viewers to hear the original railway sounds; if I add narration, you wont be hearing the railway sounds anymore
@@doc7austin No one wants to hear your ugly voice anyways:) Just kidding , nice video, did not expect you to visit Latvia nor Lithuania
LTG Link is not allowed to sell tickets from Jelgava to Riga and vice versa. but you can sure pay 2 euros extra to Joniskis and just get out in Jelgava haha:)
actually, 2 passengers joined us in Jelgava on our journey to Riga.
@@doc7austin must have used the same story - ltg link, board, scan joniskis -riga :)
15:38 ...SADELY!...
i did it again ?
Russian soldiers on trains require special permissions from Lithuania, must not be armed and are directly surveiled by Lithuanian military and border force.
The Russian trains DO NOT GO through the Suwalki gap that only has north/south LT/PL railway (1435 mm).
though the government of lithuania doesnt know who is an active member of the russian armed forces and who is not
Every russian transit train is for followed by a military helicopter as long as it is passing lithuanian territory.
yeah I think lithuania wanted to ban all travel between the exclave and russia but the EU prevented it, and thats how you end up with half arsed not working sanctions@@doc7austin
@@drerri These sanctions are working well for ban Russians and help Russian goverment and personally Putin
@@doc7austin If they find out, then the agreement is toast.. If it was deliberate then, so a soldier probably not, a train full of them without prior reporting, well then its no supplies via rail anymore (cargo is also allowed and vital to kalingrad). I will stop short from saying even Russia won't be that stupid but I've said that once and I was very very wrong..
The Russian train has typical border controll: at entering and leaving points of EU (Lithuania). This train is allowed to use by Russia citizens which have not an EU-visa. In this case, the convention requieres to preliminarily make some kind of Lithuanian transit e-visa - Simplified Transit Documents for Railway (УПД-ЖД).
but these permissions are also open for members of the russian armed forces - i guess ?
@@doc7austin I don't know certanly, hope only Lithuanian and EU authorities of security know the answer. But yes, I didn't hear somewhat about refuse for a permission to anyone. Also, it is obviously that nobody can definetly to say is a human military forces member or not, even is he a russian or not. Sometimes, it happens, peoples even can't exactly know which citizenships theyself have.
Красивый польский дизель поезд песа 🇱🇹>🇱🇻
Shut up ruski
LTG Link is not allowed to sell tickets from Jelgava to Riga and vice versa.
just pay EUR 3 to ticket from/to joniskis and one can travel jelgava-riga
Finally, when I visited Riga in 2018, there were trains only to Belarus and I really didn't want to go to Belarus. 😀
Riga also had a train to Moscow, Russia in 2018
@@doc7austin Someone told me that it's because of soviet track gauge, it's wider in former USSR, but I saw that there already is a train from Vilnius to Poland, so I guess they are already replacing it with standard european gauge. It would be really nice if it was possible to travel to Baltic states by train without milion transfers, I heard something about project Rail Baltica, that will be really amazing if I will be still alive. 😀
@Pidalin that vilnius-warsaw train; passengers need to change train at the polish/lithuanian border
@@doc7austin Aha, so they still didn't change their tracks to european gauge I guess.
@@PidalinThere is a european gauge track starting from Kaunas i assume and heads all the way along side the soviet gauge track to Mockava, after Mockava is the european gauge track only
9:11 poor woman...
winter fun ⛄
I don't get it. Before this train was started, there was a connection Vilnius-Riga with some ridiculous change of the trains in some village where you would wait for a couple of hours. This was believed to be due to the difference between gauge size between Lithuania and Latvia. And now there is one train connecting the two capitals. Could someone explain?
No, the gauge is the same. The little village you are talking about would be Daugavpils, a city in Latvia, changing from Vilnius -Daugavpils LTG Link train to a Latvian Daugavpils - Riga one. Lithuanian and Latvian railways have different SOP's (Standard Operating Procedures), so it took a while for LTG Link to figure out the usage fees and procedures to be certified to run the direct route, which is also a different one, It does not go through Daugavpils, but rather Jelgava.
@@slapukaz Oh wow, thank you so much for clarification! I am impressed how professional and accurate the information you provide us with are! Excellent job! Thank you again.
@@zielonapapuga6754 LTG Link has also decided to go through Jelgava connection, because, just like in the video, the passenger flow would be higher. Just lice Doc mentioned 2 people paid extra booking online from a Lithuanian stop so they could get to Riga from Jelgava to be able to use the train.
Maybe you meant the Latvia-Estonia connection in Valga?
yes; riga-tallinn is possible by rail; by connecting from vivi to elron in valga, estonia
Красиво!!!👍👏🤝😃❤🇷🇺
yes; a nice train
5:50 I was very impressed when I saw a Moscow train in Vilnius. It is hard to imagine why this is still possible. This train poses a threat to Lithuania's security and sovereignty, in case of a possible further development of a military conflict.
bro it's a train chill off
Lithuania has rectricted its sovereignity with the aforementioned sanction-proof EU-Russia treaty, which allows the running of these Russian transit trains through Lithuania.
If russia escalates the war, this line would surely be stopped. But it's probably not worth making a hassle out of it right now. Would just give putin "right" about NATO attacking him.
it's because of this train that Lithuania has its independence without too much problems 30 years ago. As much as I dislike Russia, I still think they should just keep this train running normally and keep the Lithuanian people out of problems.
As long as they don't escalate the war further or try to use it to transport weapons. But NATO should without doubt strengthen security in the region@@SGtravelsEU
👍👍👍❤🤍💚
To be honest with everyone, I still can't understand why , even without corruption, it takes so long to change our gauges here in Lithuania. It's not only about war safety, either. It's probably because we are doing everything too honest here, without bribes n shit.
Why do you need to change the track gauge in Lithuania ?
Yes, it's a problem here! This is the critical point in our country, many immigrants use this train and, later, Vilnius-Mockava train to reach our country! There was even a question in referendum about Suwałki corridor: "Do you support the removal of the barrier between the Republic of Poland and Belarus?". Majority of Poles didn't supported that.
Зато бандеровцы, вырезавшие ваших сородичей на Волыни и Полесье - теперь ваши лучшие друзья.
@@Arpa61 Because 96% voted NO, 4% of voters voted YES, due to "communist" rules in Belarus and Russia, and there were illegal immigrants crossing the Polish-Belarussian border.
rubbish@@aleksandersmirnow2157
i didnt see any refugees on my train
@@aleksandersmirnow2157 this is a railway channel, not RT or some other Kremlin propaganda media channel. Your political nonsense has no place here, thank you.
What is this platform/track nonsense on the departures board?
you mean the departure board in vilnius ?
'Cause a platform can have two tracks (on either side) if that's what you're asking.
ah yes; you are right
In some countries (mostly in Eastern Europe as far as I know) the platforms and the tracks in each platform are specified separately, see 3:25 for instance:
Platform 2
Track 4 - Track 3
This is a bit confusing if you are not used to it, I agree. The platform information is kind of redundant because in the end it's the track what you are looking for
@osasunaitor is the same happening in polish stations as well ?
This train sounds awfully loud.
It is a shame that there is no through train through these 3 countries with proper passenger cars.
yes; its a diesel-powered train, so thats normal; yes, the situation between riga and tallinn is particularly bad; no direct connection through valga
they are hoping to launch a direct Riga-Tallinn connection this year. I guess politics is more focused on the high speed rail baltica project.
Actually the noise depends a lot on which part of the train you are in.
The direct line from Vilnius to Warshaw via Grodno runs via Marcinkonis - this is a complete nonsense, you have obviously never been on that train.
The Vilnius Warshaw train passes through Kaunas, Kazlų Rūda, Marijampole, Mockava, then on to Poland Trakiszki, Suwałki, Augustów, Dąbrowa Białostocka, Sokółka, Białystok, Białystok Zielone Wzgórza, Łapy, Szepietowo, Czyżew, Małkinia, Łochów, Tłuszcz, Wołomin, Warszawa Wschodnia, Warszawa Centralna
until the early 1990s, the most direct line between vilnius and warsaw was via grodno; this is also where the trains ran
@@doc7austin please write it as 1990's because you are misleading people
what are you talking about ? i wrote in the video that this direct line via grodno was cut in the 1990s
Russian trains are way more comfy -You can actually visit restorant
and lay down in your own bunk.I want to see you to go anywhere that far sitting in a chair... its a torture... i would take good old russian train
Leave Russian trains to Russia. We don't need anything Russian in Europe whatsoever. What a disgrace of a 'country'.
Russian trains travel through and stop in Latvia and Lithuania
Go and live in your beloved Russia, let it pay you.
What?
@@andrejruscak Go to hospital... you're mind is sick.👽
The Russian train should be stopped immediately 😡
Lietuvai tai negali būti padaryta neskausmingai.
this is not possible due to a special EU-Russia treaty
Galvena problema ir ta ka privatizacija iet loti leni.
NATO is a terrorist organization
Without the train Russian people would suffer
0:40 - The Estonian train has long been new and beautiful, but the Latvian train is only new, 11 years later.
what happened 11 years later ?
@@doc7austin Estonia replaced its fleet 11 years ago. Latvia got its first new train recently.
@timectrl yes; Estonia went for Stadler Rail in 2013; Latvia went for Skoda as supplier of the new trainsets
в кибартай такие ходят?
are there even trains to kibartai anymore ?
@@doc7austin раньше ходили два вагона Каунас-Кибартай