GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE WORK Relevance of the Research Over the past several years, solution of issues of quality of development, modernization, reconstruction and maintenance of international railway corridors has been in focus, considering the changing needs of an individual country’s residents and common needs of railway users in general. The development of railway transport systems influences the quality of life in separate countries and regions, as defined by complex equilibrium of economic, social and political factors. The railway transport sector in countries in Central and Eastern Europe is outdated in the technical, economic, technological and organizational sense, lagging far behind modern and efficiently interacting railway transport systems of Western and Northern Europe. Their main weaknesses include low train speeds, different conditions for the use of railway networks in different countries (differing requirements for infrastructure, projecting standards and rolling stock), low-level services, noise and vibration, insufficient level of traffic safety and environmental protection. The problem of increasing train speeds is of key importance. Development of a joint European high-speed railway network has been started, and Lithuania should join the system as well. The main goal of the Lithuanian railway sector is to increase speeds of passenger and cargo trains on main lines from the current 120 km/h for passenger trains and 90 km/h for cargo trains. The... [to full text]

Over the past several years, solution of issues of quality of development, modernization, reconstruction and maintenance of international railway corridors has been in focus, considering the changing needs of an individual country’s residents and common needs of railway users in general. The development of railway transport systems influences the quality of life in separate countries and regions, as defined by complex equilibrium of economic, social and political factors. The railway transport sector in countries in Central and Eastern Europe is outdated in the technical, economic, technological and organizational sense, lagging far behind modern and efficiently interacting railway transport systems of Western and Northern Europe. Their main weaknesses include low train speeds, different conditions for the use of railway networks in different countries (differing requirements for infrastructure, projecting standards and rolling stock), low-level services, noise and vibration, insufficient level of traffic safety and environmental protection. The problem of increasing train speeds is of key importance. Development of a joint European high-speed railway network has been started, and Lithuania should join the system as well. The main goal of the Lithuanian railway sector is to increase speeds of passenger and cargo trains on main lines from the current 120 km/h for passenger trains and 90 km/h for cargo trains. The increase of train speeds is not a technical issue only – as... [to full text]