The infrastructure maintenance depots are an integral part of the European railway, currently under construction in the Baltic States, and they are going to ensure the implementation of technical maintenance projects across all sections of Rail Baltica in Lithuania.
“The new European rail infrastructure will bring economic and social benefits to Lithuania and its regions, creating new business opportunities and jobs. The project is of particular importance for the transformation of railway logistics and for the country's economy as a whole,” told Mrs. Loreta Maskaliovienė, the Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications.
The specific territories required for the construction of depots and related facilities are provided in the special spatial planning document. The special plan was presented to the public earlier this year, giving all interested parties the opportunity to provide comments and reasoned proposals on the special plan for infrastructure maintenance depots.
The Panevėžys Infrastructure Maintenance Depot will be located near the village of Gustoniai in the Panevėžys District Municipality. It is planned to allocate 94.2 hectares (ha) of land for its territory. The preliminary cost of implementing the depot and other railway facilities (stations) in the alternative is €93.56 million.
Following consultations with the authorities, the size of the Panevėžys’ depot territory was further increased. According to Dovydas Palaima, General Manager of LTG Infra Rail Baltica Management, compliance to NATO and European Union military infrastructure related to Rail Baltica, including the Panevėžys railway station, was taken into account.
The Kaunas Infrastructure Maintenance Depot will be located near the village of Neveronys in the Kaunas District Municipality. The infrastructure development of the Kaunas depot area will require 25.5 ha of land, the majority of which belongs to the State (25.33 ha). The estimated cost of the works foreseen in the Plan is €31.45 million.
This is the second special plan approved by the Government for the Rail Baltica project. The works on the stretch between Kaunas and the Lithuanian-Latvian border were covered by the first Plan.
Spatial planning activities are being extensively carried out on other sections at the moment: the Kaunas railway junction, Kaunas-Vilnius and Kaunas-Lithuanian-Polish border, where special plans are being drawn up for these railway facilities. All special plans for the new railway route are expected to be approved by the end of this year.
Rail Baltica, the largest railway infrastructure project in the history of the Baltic States, is aimed at constructing a fully electrified double-track European gauge railway line running from Warsaw via Kaunas and Riga to Tallinn. The total length of Rail Baltica line in the Baltic States is 870 km: 392 km in Lithuania, 265 km in Latvia and 213 km in Estonia.
