No Interrail in Lithuania ?

On their website, Lithuanian railways mention Interrail and Eurail passes and that they give a 100% discount:

https://ltglink.lt/en/discounts-and-concessions

In my opinion, that implies a free but mandatory reservation, although they describe it in a strange way (in any case on the English page) and still say you have to buy them (which contradicts the 100% discount).

In the data they send to the European Timetable Centre, however, they don't seem to include mandatory reservations. That's why the rail planner app or the DB planner doesn't mention it. If reservation is indeed mandatory (although that would be quite strange for the local and regional trains), then their timetable data is incorrect or incomplete. @Nanja, maybe you could get clarification on which trains in Lithuania have mandatory reservations?

In any case, in 2019 I used the train from Kaunas to Białystok with an Interrail pass, without any reservation. I doubt that a reservation would have been possible in that train - one friend didn't have Interrail but a normal ticket instead and didn't get a reservation either.

Frankly-using a pass there-also further on north in the Baltics is a waste of money-unless you have a few days left to use. The weekends only train from PL is also suspended for now-untill who knows when. It was PolRegio-which does not handle any REServation. Also NO trains over the border to LV=Latvia.

The crack trains Vilnius-Klaipeda are with mandatory REserv and for htis you have to go to counter and get a free ticket. For the local trains it seems you have to get also a local ticket, this seems mostly to satisfy the conductors as they likely cannot ´read´ the mobile tickets etc.

Using a pass is also a waste of money as local fares ar still quite cheap-lower as a tipical passday would cost

Thanks @rvdborgt for your reply ! Indeed I had a look at your link and Interrail should be covered in Lithuania. And the trains Kaunas-Bialystok doesn’t seem to be running yet with Interrail.

@mcadv, thanks also for your answer ! Indeed I agree with you, trains are quite cheap but as I paid my Interrail and have a few days left, I prefer to use a day than pay 40€ to go to Klaipéda. 

Also, how do you get a free ticket ? Because it seems that at least in the Siauliai station they didn’t know Interrail and I would have had to pay the whole reservation. But maybe they are more used to it in Vilnius ? Thanks again !

I'd expect more knowledge in Vilnius indeed. But I'd show them their own web page (this one is the terms & conditions in Lithuanian, search for Interrail. This one is the same in English) if they deny knowledge of Interrail.

You are right, I will follow your advice ! Thanks !

I've passed it on to the relevant team to look into it, rvdborgt. Will get back to you in this topic once I know more. Cheers, 

@Marion Could you then also update the reservations page and the country page? (also on eurail.com of course)

Not sure what 3rd class is though.

3rd class is Platskart. But don’t know if since Corona and the war in Ukraine there are any 3rd class waggons running through Lithuania that you could actually use.

Hey @Marion , thanks for the information. Maybe you could ask them to inform the controllers then, as then don’t seem to know that (I have been asked for a reservation even if I was in the 2nd class). 

@MartinM Indeed I didn’t see any 3rd class while I travelled there (from April 12th to May 2nd). 

Frankly, LitRail does not have any old-style Russky sleepercars anymore.

The main line is Vilnius-Klaipeda with new electric stock with only seats-normal west-style running as fast trains. From other postings I now gather these MUST be reserved.

I guess myself they mean with 3d cl. the ´elektrishka´ suburban trains, except that they hardly have these (In Latvia around Riga there is). As their fares were always substantially lower as the longer-distance trains. But in old style Russky raillanguage/signs there never ever were signs for 1st/2nd/3d. Only the style of accomodation counted. And in the tipical long-distance overnight trains 1st was spalny=sleeper (the 4 bed coupe), but Lyuks was with more/better surroundings, platskart=2nd and obschy=no bed at all = 3d. For the unbelievers: yes, this was available in some of such trains, mostly for very short distance, also in nighttime. Often old platskart wagons with beds out of use.

On their own site they say that IR is accepted but that for every trip one has to get a local ticket for 0-probably to satisfy the conductors for checking.

Vilnius-Kaunas is the main line with about hourly suburban FLIRT double-floor trains.

Other lines see a very sparse service mostly with polish diesel railcars.

LitRail might not have but there was the Kyiv-Riga train going through Vilnius and that one had platskart. You could have used it from Vilnius to Siauliai for example. But I doubt that an Ukrainian provodnik would have let you enter the train with an Interrail ticket ^^. So actually 3rd class doesn’t exist and the info they wrote is not right.

And again wrong info. OBSCHY is not 3rd but 4th class. 3rd class is platskart.

I used that train from Šiauliai to Riga in 2019 :)

Interrail was not valid. Tickets were not very expensive though.

Hello @Nanja, 

I am going to Lithuania in 1st week of July with Global Pass.

I am trying to book the reservation online on ltglink.lt from Vilnius to Klaipeda but it doesnt give any discount. though it says 100% discount. And if I buy the tickets over the counter, they might not be available in case of @Ziblibli . any suggestion??

Additionally, I have two Qs.

Are there any trains from Lithuania to Latvia and Estonia?

And if it possible to book a ticket from Bialystok to Vilnius?

Hi @Tarik Alam, I am afraid you will have to buy every ticket and then ask Interrail for a refund. Indeed, the controllers don’t seem to be aware of the pass. I would advise you two options : 
First, when you are in Lithuania, ask a person at the counter in Vilnius station to book a ticket with no extra fees, just to have a seat reservation because controllers require it (although it’s written the reverse on their website) .

Second, you can write to Interrail in advance to be on the safe side if you have to buy yourself the tickets and have to be refunded. 

As to me, I had to buy the tickets because my app was not running well. But at Vilnius station, someone at the counter seemed to be aware of Interrail and would, I think, have given me a reservation for trains without extra fees. 

As to your other questions, there are no trains from Bialystok to Vilnius, at least when I was there in April, so I had to take a bus. And from Lithuania to other baltic countries, Interrail was not running.

I hope this helps. 

The trains between Byalistok - Kaunas start from 1st July and will operate only on weekend.

Why would you say that? Reservations are a good idea on the trains to Klaipėda but not mandatory.

Not to Latvia. There are trains from Latvia to Estonia, see Seat61.

No reservation required or possible.

Thank you so much @Ziblibli  @rvdborgt. Well noted

Do you have a time table or something? I Could not find any trains between Byalistok and Kauna. I used the interrail and bahn.de journey planer.

They are somewhere on https://ltglink.lt/ but I'm only seeing HTTP errors there right now...

Thank you I have also been trying to access the lithuanian railway website since this morning and only get error messages. :/

Polregio.pl should also have it-after all they run these tiny dieselset.

ITs FROM Suwalki (thats where it states to start-some say it comes as other train Nr from Bialystok on fr+sat only mid-day-to arr Kauno late evening-can still change onward to Vilnius.

FROM Kauno on sat+sun only-early morning (I recall like 6.30)_ in other direction-so that on sat it can do the return. Seat61.com has/had the info, as I recall.

In the past pre-covid it also ran PL->LT on sun and come back MOn-early, thats no more it seems.

(Perhaps the angry Russki now hack the poor Lietuvo=Lithuania) as they are mad again at some issue?

Let us now-in case you make it till Lith and on pass-how it works with the pass over there on LitRail?

polregio.pl could not find the train (even from Suwalki) but this webside does (portalpasazera.pl).

 polregio linked ist so I think the information are legit and there are trains from 1.7 on fridays and saturdays. I think i will try it and share my experience with you.

Thanks @TLP. And we indeed see confirmation that it's a direct train, despite claims to the contrary.

I’ve just arrived in Vilnius to travel on the train to Poland on Saturday. I’ve bought a ticket for this afternoon online as it’s not worth using a pass for today. I’ll see what they have to say about interrails at the station later. The LTG link web site has this page for services to Poland - https://ltglink.lt/en/kaunas-bialystok-kaunas .