OREANDA-NEWS. The JSC “Lithuanian Railways” has organised the conference in Berlin named “Germany and Lithuania: cargo transportation by railway and development opportunities”.  The conference provided an excellent opportunity to strengthen bilateral cooperation, to develop business contacts and transportation on international freight corridors I, II, and VIII as well as attract additional cargo flows.

The conference, which brought together over 50 participants, highlighted the desire to attract freight flows to the newly forming Rail Freight Corridor VIII. Participants also discussed the implementation of the five shuttle trains: "Sheshtokai Express“, "Viking Train", "Merkurijus" (Mercury), "Saulл" and "Vilnius Shuttle", as well as the „Rail Baltica“ project.  At the conference, new business opportunities have been negotiated with  „DFDS Seaways“ concerning the newly planned launch of the container train route Berlin-Sassnitz-Klaipeda-Eastern Marketsand Hamburg–Sassnitz-Klaipлda- Eastern Markets.

Germany – one of the most important partners of Lithuania in the west, is an important stakeholder of the European rail network, and of organization of the cargo transportation in the region. Recent statistics shows that the freight transportation between Lithuania and Germany is currently underdeveloped; a lot of exported goods are transported by road transport instead of using trains.