A round table discussion within the frames of the NDPTL project “Elimination of obstacles for Intermodal transportation in transit through Poland, Lithuania and Belarus” took place in Helsinki, Finland, on 26 April 2016.
The study project “Elimination of obstacles for Intermodal transportation in transit through Poland, Lithuania and Belarus” is jointly launched by NDPTL and Lithuanian Railways and implemented by consortium led by Deloitte.
Significance of combined transport is constantly increasing in Europe due to regular, fast, competitive and reliable “door-to-door” services, offered for industry and trade on growing network of routes and intermodal terminals. The Baltics and Finland are currently weakly integrated into this network due to complicated interaction between two rail gauge systems. With construction of Rail Baltica, the regional rail network will be substantially integrated into European rail system. Recently 1435 mm rail gauge have reached Kaunas, where Lithuanian Railways, AB have built a modern intermodal terminal, which is fully operating.
The aim of the round table was to discuss opportunities and potential with Finnish industry and trade organizations for door-to-door or terminal-to-terminal intermodal services between Finland and mainland Europe.