There is an only one active narrow-gauge railway in Lithuania. In the past Lithuania had many narrow gauge railways, especially built during World War I by the German Empire and industrial railways for transportation of peat from peat fields to factory. Until today about 158.8 km of narrow-gauge railways in Lithuania remained. About 68.4 km of them is used.
Aukštaitijos narrow gauge railway
Very popular is a narrow-gauge railway from Panevėžys to Rubikiai, although tourist trains run usually only from Anykščiai to Rubikiai. The narrow gauge railway was built from 1891 with a gauge of 750 mm. The first section was completed in 1895, the line was opened for regular passenger and freight traffic in autumn 1899. The preserved section is just a small part of the original line that once ran all the way to Uciena, connecting two of Lithuania’s most famous breweries.
The narrow-gauge railway runs regularly on Saturdays and Sundays from May to October on the Anykščiai – Rubikiai or Rubikiai – Troškūnairoute. The journey takes about 50 minutes, in Rubikiai passengers have two hours off. Then the train starts its return journey. Trains from Panevėžys to Rubikiai run very rarely.
siaurukas.eu – official website
Other railways
There were formerly many narrow gauge railways in Lithuania, which were closed and dismantled. There is a list of most important ones:
– there was a narrow-gauge railway in Palanga. The line was used to transport goods from the local brickyard to steamships. The last section led through the pier. Passengers also used the trains.
– there was a network of 1000 mm narrow-gauge railways in the Klaipeda region. These railways were built in 1900-1904 The railways were mainly used to transport goods from Plikiai. The last section of the railway network was closed in 1944. The building of the former narrow-gauge railway station has been preserved in Klaipeda. Recently, a renovated bridge with a track in the middle of the bridge was recently opened in the town of Dovilai, reminding of the former narrow-gauge railway running through this place.
– there was a narrow-gauge railway with a rail gauge of 600 mm under the fortress in Kaunas. It was a typical military railway, built in 1894 by the Russians.
– Kaunas had a second narrow-gauge railway, formerly used to transport passengers from the city center to one of the districts. The railway line was 6.4 km long, later a branch was built to the nearby heath (3.5 km). The railway operated from 1919 to 1935, and ceased operation due to a conflict between the city authorities and the railway management and complaints from residents about the smoke coming out of the steam locomotive. The last train called “Kukuška” ran on August 1, 1935. In one of the parks in Kaunas you can come across a former railway embankment.
– there were also narrow-gauge railways in Vilnius. In the 1920s, Poles built a narrow-gauge railway for military purposes, and in 1939 a 5-kilometer line was built from Antakalnis to the hydroelectric power plant being built nearby. In 1962, almost the entire line was dismantled, a small fragment served as a children’s railway for some time.
Related articles:
Train travel in Lithuania
Railways in Europe
