Normally, when I board an old Soviet carriage like this, I expect enclosed compartments or Platzkart bunk beds. So, when I got on this first-class carriage from Lithuanian Railways, I was surprised to see just how much has changed after the refurbishment. With massive armchairs and modern screens, this carriage now looks like a proper Western high-speed train. Join me to see what I thought of it!
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Train type: ER20 + Carriges from Tver Carriage Works
Route: Vilnius to Klaipeda
Train: 15
Distance: 376km
Journey time: 4h35m
Average speed: 82km/h
Price: 28.80€
30 Comments
Excellent video thanks. Sorry for disturbing saying the same in each video Simon
The waste box reads “Mixed waste” in Lithuanian. The English translation is… funny! The probably meant “household” when they wrote “domestic”.
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.
Beautiful grand station, the train looked cozy. Good presentation. 👌
0:44 this portal is for Lublin, Poland, just so people would know.
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.
4:02 is that a giant statue of Tony Soprano ?
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)
I agree; beautiful station.
Lithuania is far too small for platkartnyj bunks.
wow, they really made something out of those carriages!
Hi Simon it looks like the same footchairs that are in the rebuilt sj X2000? You always have very nice movies.
i took this one but old version and it was really good! its good you can still find some older trains!
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 🙂
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
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
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…
Great job with the refurbishment
Domestic Waste ? I feel it's a bit of lost in translation
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
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.
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😊😅
That's one funny looking ER20, I didn't know they also made EuroRunners with Vectron's facemask.
Lithuania 👍
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
Cool, interesting. Are there sleeping berths on the train? Because you showed them briefly but didn't go into details
Thanks!
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.
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.
Interesting, the new seats are the same used in the renovated swedish X2, love these seats
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