The national railway companies of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed an agreement today to start a regular intermodal transport line linking the Baltic states. The line, called the ‘Amber Train’, will deliver goods to the Baltic States from Western Europe more quickly, more economically and in a more environmentally friendly manner.
The agreement was signed by Egidijus Lazauskas, Lithuanian Railways Deputy Director General and Freight Transportation Director, Svetlana Berga, Chairwoman of the Management Board of a subsidiary of Latvian Railways LDZ Cargo, Eduards Cernavskis, Member of the Board of a subsidiary of Latvian Railways LDZ Logistika and Raul Toomsalu, Chairman of the Board of EVR Cargo.
“Amber Train is a great example of cooperation between the Baltic States. We at Lithuanian Railways foster partnership and believe in succeeding together. This new partnership will benefit all sides, but most importantly – our clients. Amber Train will offer fast, reliable, and effective rail freight connection between Western and Northern Europe,“ said Egidijus Lazauskas, Lithuanian Railways Deputy Director General and Freight Transportation Director.
„The Amber Train project is a good example of creating new products within the existing infrastructure. This route provides new opportunities and benefits for all three Baltic countries. On a wider scale, our collaboration in the rail sector will allow to unburden automotive road infrastructure from heavy cargoes and facilitate efficient usage of railway lines, whereas from the client’s perspective, it provides a new opportunity for using a single route to reach all three Baltic states,“ said Eduards Čerņavskis, Board Member of LDZ Logstika.
„We, in cooperation with our Latvian and Lithuanian colleagues, have launched a line with a transport corridor, which enables to transport goods from Western Europe to the Baltic States and then onward to Finland on a steady schedule. During the course of the project, we have also taken a critical look at our technical procedures and optimised these. For instance, we have iniated a transition to an electronical information exchange. We have built a great foundation to make it easier to manage other trade flows in that direction in a more efficient manner in the future,“ said Raul Toomsalu, Chairman of the Management Board of EVR Cargo.
„Estonian Railways supports this project in every way and we will do everything in our power to make it successful. This is another sign that there is a demand for a north-south route, which in turn shows that we need Rail Baltica,“ said Erik Laidvee, Chairman of the Management Board of Estonian Railways.
Amber train is a joint project between the national railways of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Estonian national railway carrier EVR Cargo. The intermodal Amber Train carries cargos on the 650 kilometres long route from Šestokai on the border between Lithuania and Poland via Riga to Tallinn on the existing railway network. Operations are managed by Lithuanian Railways, Latvia’s LDZ Logistika and Estonia’s EVR Cargo.