Lithuania's CRAZY Overhauled Soviet Train Carriages (Incredible New 1st Class)

[@andressorin1205]

The waste box reads “Mixed waste” in Lithuanian. The English translation is… funny! They probably meant “household” when they wrote “domestic”.

[@ktipuss]

Not at all mistranslated. "Domestic waste" is common on waste bins, to distinguish from "commercial waste". Some authorities can fine commercial outlets that put their rubbish in bins meant for domestic rubbish.

[@erikcarlsson2518]

The first class seats are the same as in first class of the refurbished X2000 in Sweden. Quite comfortable and nice to see them elsewhere too.

[@DS.J]

Indeed! I googled for "refurbished X2000" and the seats are pretty much identical. Oh well, it's good to see that LTG are taking inspirations from the right examples.

[@johnalder6028]

Beautiful grand station, the train looked cozy. Good presentation. 👌

[@DS.J]

Great to see you in Lithuania. I took this refurbished carriage recently and really loved the comfortable seats. Unfortunately, it seems that they're not planning any more carriages to be refurbished like this. I really wish they did, because this is soooo much better than the Pesa 730 DMUs which also have "1st class". Refurbishment was done in Latvia. As for "quiet zone" stickers, they put them on very recently in all trains and did it, I suspect, not least due to multiple complaints by me about noisy passengers who are often very inconsiderate to other passengers even in quiet zone (talking on the phone, listening to music/videos on a loudspeaker etc.). So LTG put those stickers on in a somewhat annoying but very noticeable location so that people actually notice it. The train attendant also informed every passenger that 1st class is quiet zone which I had never seen before. Also, it does seem that seats are identical to refurbished Swedish X2000 trains, like actually identical. Pretty cool.

[@Simon-Andersen]

Yeah, I much prefer this to the Pesa 730, but I was surprised they even bothered to refurbish these, considering they will likely be gone again in about 2 years - unless they are planning to use them for some other kind of service

[@DS.J]

@@Simon-Andersen It's a bit of a curious mystery to me too. We can only guess what they're going to do with this refurbished carriage. DMUs like Pesa 730 and shittier 630 will be used on non-electrified routes that can't be served by Stadler battery EMUs. There won't be many of such routes. Perhaps just Vilnius-Turmantas (and on to Daugavpils if it gets resumed) And Vilnius-Mockava where it then continues to Krakow on a PKP train. In theory they could use loco-hauled trains on these routes (and I wish they would!) but somehow I doubt this will happenn. Anyway, I hope they manage to keep it in use one way or another. Really liked this interior.

[@grizeldiSLO]

That's one funny looking ER20, I didn't know they also made EuroRunners with Vectron's facemask.

[@railfanlt]

Wrong. Vectrons family introduced in 2010. These ER20CF built in 2007.

[@ignaloidas]

It's technically ER20CF, it got quite a few changes from a regular EuroRunner, including that they have 6 axles instead of usual 4. Pretty sure they're unique to Lithuania.

[@railfanlt]

@@ignaloidas yes, specially built for Lithuania 44 units in summary.

[@JaNieWie]

0:44 this portal is for Lublin, Poland, just so people would know.

[@janariviik2634]

Someone in Lublin flipped me off when I was in Vilnius last summer 😢

[@NickBurman]

Trenitalia did a similar conversion some time ago by taking former "Grand Comfort" compartment coaches and turning them into open plan 1st class vehicles for use on "Frecciabianca" trains. They share the same seat spacing issues with the LG conversions...

[@falco3471]

sadly that project did not go so well

[@TrainspotterFromLithuania]

To correct you: 1. The ticket posts (the booths) are now not working anymore, and you can buy tickets on board of the train, or the ticket machine. 2. the siemens locomotives aren't LTG LINK, they are owned by LTG CARGO and LTG LINK rents them for "Klasika" trains (the ones with passenger coaches) but starting from 2026, they will be removed forever because of the new STADLER trains, as well as the old good soviet DR1'Am/mv's Nevertheless, very interesting and nice video! Greetings from Lithuania :)

[@Simon-Andersen]

Thank you! Greetings from Denmark

[@DS.J]

Why are you so sure that they will be gone "forever"? Classic carriages are alive and kickin on Vilnius-Klaipėda route (as demonstrated by this video!) despite Pesa 730 having been introduced on this route since 2014. ER20s will be in use for a long time to come and there is no reason why they shouldn't be hauling those passenger carriages.

[@one_under_all]

3:44 those seats are the same as SJs refurbished “new” x2000

[@mariadelmarjimenezarroyo]

Excellent video thanks. Sorry for disturbing saying the same in each video Simon

[@Simon-Andersen]

No worries Maria im glad you like my videos :D

[@ExplorebyRail]

wow, they really made something out of those carriages!

[@Letsgobyland]

i took this one but old version and it was really good! its good you can still find some older trains!

[@ggreg2258]

I agree; beautiful station.

[@DodoGTA]

0:48 That city is actually Lublin in Poland 1:45 I mean I brought a wrapper of a Gotina chocolate bar from Latvia to Lithuania (which could be considered international trash) but the Lithuanian translation means "mixed waste" (just like another commenter mentioned) 1:53 I can see the escalator is blocked off (which wasn't the case when I visited the station during the renovation) 1:58 When I last visited another Lithuanian railway station, the ticket office wasn't open (so in that case the options were the (broken) ticket machine which only accepts cards or buying from the conductor directly which might not work for reservation-required trains and adds an extra 3€ fee if the ticket office is actually open; the "Perlas" terminals inside supermarkets or even dedicated places can also be used for buying tickets but I haven't tried that option yet) 2:20 The Vilnius railway station had a different announcement system with older screens and a different voice (this was replaced with an unified one that's present in more railway stations including my station) 2:26 Right now those train services terminate in Kena (outside of the international platforms) instead (those platforms are still used as a technical stop for the RZD services from Kaliningrad but of course no passengers can board or get off there) Also there were services to Kyiv, St. Petersburg and Moscow from this station before COVID 3:20 Those modernized 1st-class carriages are definitely a new addition (I think previously this carriage would be a 4-berth kupe one) 3:31 I think only the 730ML trains have proper level boarding (and maybe the EJ575) 7:40 I never saw this pole before (maybe it's electrification-related?) 7:45 This is also the point where you change to the Riga train if you're traveling from Klaipėda 8:36 I think the new Stadler FLIRT trains will also have vending machines (and the 730ML/EJ575 trains previously had dedicated coffee vending machine areas but those were removed) 9:03 I wasn't allowed to go through the carriages before (I was at the carriage shown in 9:17) 9:17 This was actually sold as the 1st class carriage before (now they're packing more people there)

[@michaelbruchas6663]

Nice trip report. Am 2nd generation Lithuanian (Scot/Irish) in Chicago. My grandparents came separately from there before 1910. Grandpa was a Vilnius “city kid”. Grandma was a rich farmer’s daughter - but unsure from where.

[@Simon-Andersen]

Thanks, Michael! I hope you enjoyed this trip to your not-so-distant family’s home country!

[@michaelbruchas6663]

Thanks!

[@DJTKarlsson]

Well made video Simon! I travelled with this in January this year from Klaipeda to Vilnius (and back). Very pleasant! Way more nice intact and cleaned then the Öresund trains back home :) Hope your stay in Lithuania was fine! Let me know if you ever in Klaipeda again, a beer is on me ;)

[@Simon-Andersen]

Glad you enjoyed it! It is indeed much better than Öresundståg, but hopefully we'll soon see SJ refurbished X2000 cross the bridge into Denmark that has the same seats in first :D

[@robertheinrich2994]

this is a surprisingly nice train. for obvious reasons, there are still some features lacking, but it was an impressive attempt to do something with these old cars.

[@Simon-Andersen]

Excatly, very impressive!

[@blk-00000]

Interesting, the new seats are the same used in the renovated swedish X2, love these seats

[@jmcortade8161]

Wasn't expecting a video on lithuanian railways

[@Simon-Andersen]

Yeah, I much prefer this to the Pesa 730, but I was surprised they even bothered to refurbish these, considering they will likely be gone again in about 2 years - unless they are planning to use them for some other kind of service

[@jmcortade8161]

@@Simon-Andersen I think the same. That's really a waste refurbishing those, knowing they are going to get scrapped in a few years. Unless they're going to keep them for future routes but we never know. Also, what I don't really like about Lithuanian Railways, is how trains take way longer between Klaipeda and Vilnius than cars. It only takes 2h57 by car, and 4h by train. Such a shame.

[@rogerpetersson9624]

Hi Simon it looks like the same footchairs that are in the rebuilt sj X2000? You always have very nice movies.

[@Simon-Andersen]

It is the same chairs, still haven't had luck and gotten one of the new X2000 yet.

[@gurralurra]

Giirl those are the exact same seats as on the refurbished x2000 trains in sweden, also it would be such a waste if they took these nice trains out of service

[@dainiusm5436]

Lithuania 👍

[@petrkan8792]

4:02 is that a giant statue of Tony Soprano ?

[@DS.J]

It is indeed.

[@petrkan8792]

@@DS.J Any idea what is 10 meter tall statue of Tony Soprano doing in Lithuania's train station ?

[@ignaloidas]

@@petrkan8792 There's a bar there, and they thought it'd be fun to have a 10 meter tall statue of Tony Soprano.

[@petrkan8792]

@@ignaloidas ou, thats cool

[@aviano72]

Great job with the refurbishment Domestic Waste ? I feel it's a bit of lost in translation

[@Simon-Andersen]

Yeah for sure, something went wrong when they translated it :P

[@mratp123]

Rail Baltica is not only a connection between the Baltics, but also with the European rail network. Please mention it when speaking about the project, otherwise it's not that grandiose at all😊😅

[@Simon-Andersen]

I will remember next time for my future lithuania videos!

[@vladimiradoshev5310]

Cool, interesting. Are there sleeping berths on the train? Because you showed them briefly but didn't go into details

[@Simon-Andersen]

Yes, but since they are always in day mode because they only run in day trains, I wish there was an empty compartment so I could have shown them properly.

[@avigdonable]

These refurbished coaches could be used by an open-access train service providers like Flixtrain once the competitors are allowed in LT. Vilnius-Klaipeda is one of a few profitable routes. P.S. domestic waste hehehe

[@Kletterhaus]

Yes and because it's profitable Lithuania should not give it to some random foreign operator. The state should use the profit to subsidize non-profit lines.

[@ignaloidas]

Open acess operators are allowed, but nobody wants to enter. It's quite hard to do so when the gauge is different, operators would essentially need new trains because there isn't anything that you can get locally(all baltic passanger railways kinda lack trainsets), and bringing something from outside means extensive rebuilds for gauge change.

[@redcub7895]

Some of this carriages was made in 2000s in Tver, and another part was built at KVZ in Ukraine; There is no carriages, that was built in Soviet Union

[@Simon-Andersen]

It’s a reference to the style of carriages that were popularized during Soviet times and spread across the entire former union :-) - I’m well aware that many of them were built afterwards but continue to use a similar exterior and interior design, albeit a bit more modern. That context is however a bit long for a video title :D

[@runoflife87]

Hmm, I think those are not Soviet carriages and not all of them were actually used on night routes. Soviet railway had plenty of day-time trains using similar carriages.

[@Simon-Andersen]

They are mostly built by Tver in Russia, but yes, after the fall of the Union. "Soviet" is a reference to the general style and layout, which is very similar to almost every hauled carriage currently operating in the former Union.

[@Ghfvhvfg]

if it wasnt for the situation this would feel home in russia and the baltics

[@Simon-Andersen]

Yeah if only this whole situation could be de-escalated and some form of peace could be found.

[@16jan1986]

It is a shame that kupe cars are out of fashion as my son, who is a bit of a train fanatic handle modern large compartment trains very poorly......and this is the reason we are stuk travelling by car

[@Simon-Andersen]

There’s still at least one on every carriage on these old hauled trains, but yeah, most travelers prefer the open ones now

[@quadroff]

Such a shame there are no more trains to Minsk from Vilnius and vice versa. They were the most convenient way to cross the european border when traveling from Minsk in my opinion

[@Simon-Andersen]

I hope they come back once the situation hopefully comes to a good ending

[@cehaem2]

Lithuania is far too small for platkartnyj bunks.

[@Simon-Andersen]

They still have sleepers tho and there was plenty of platkartnyj on the services from Vilnius to Russia, but yeah makes not sense for domsetics :D