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 Welcome to the home of Latvia Main Page on 4rail.net. Latvia is the country which seems to have most challenges on abandoning old Soviet ways and joining the club of numerous European nations. LDZ, the Latvian Railways The Latvian Railways was once part of the Soviet 1520 mm transportation empire and Latvia had its important place in Soviet train and tram manufacturing as well. While winds of change blow to Latvia with the European Union membership, some customs change slowly. The rolling stock for both commuter, long distance passenger and freight is pretty much the same as was used 20 years ago, but gradual improvements, however slowly, are taking place. Latvia is also the ONLY European nation, where we have recently been reported on serious railfan harassment by authorities. Obviously the eastern tradition lives on, we will go into details later... Meanwhile, please enjoy our pictures! Click any picture to see the larger version of it.  Latvian Railways LDZ 2M62Y number 0093 online: You can almost see the movement and hear the thrundle of the huge diesel engine in the Ilkka Siissalo's shot of the 2M62Y approching the crossing near Salaspils in latvia! Salaspils is just north of Riga, the capital of Latvia.  General
information on Latvian railways...
Latvian
Railroad Operators... Latvian
RR Gallery...  To the top of the page
General Information on the Latvian Railways Latvian railways have a long history with various "owners" in recent history. Tracks, signals and much of the technical infrastructure are from the Soviet times and of mainly Russian origin, whilst some of the station houses and other buildings still clearly show the marks of Czaristic Russian times or have strong Polish or even German marks of influence. The railroads of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were all a part of the Soviet Baltic Railroad during the Soviet era. This still shows clearly. The lines are not designed according to the present country borders and the trains are still mostly the same which were "inherited" from the Soviet SZD Baltic Railroad at the time when the Baltic states regained their independence. The general railroad track width is "broad track", the Russian 1520 mm (5 ft) width. In addition to this all of the Baltic states once had an extensive range of narrow gauge lines connecting smaller villages to main lines, but only some few remnants exist today. In Latvia the only really functional remain of these today is the museal railroad of 750 mm gauge between the small towns of Gulbene and Alüksne. In general, railroad traffic today serves mainly only cargo and short-haul passenger train needs around the capitals. For example between Estonia and Latvia not a single passenger train connection exists any more. Much of the cargo centers around the crude oil and coal trains from Russia and Biela Russia to the Baltic sea harbors. In Latvia there is a lot of traffic only around the capital, Riga, especially in the directions from Riga to Liepaja, Riga to Krustpils and Riga to direction Gulbene. Latvian railroads were after the year 1999 gradually privatised. To the top of the page
Latvian Railroad Operators The major railroad company is the LDZ or Latvijas Dzelzcels, the national railroad company. The LDZ has a network of 2 270 km with the Russian style 1520 mm gauge width and some 200 locomotives and EMU trains. Almost all are from the Soviet era and of Russian or Soviet Latvian origin, but numerous remains of old German DRG, the railroads of Hitler´s Third Reich can still be seen. Some even still in use ? although most remaining Hitler´s old War Locos, the famous Kriegslok Br 52 (Latvian number TE-036) are nowadays in museums. The LDZ is nowadays active only in cargo traffic, whereas a daughter company PV or Passazhieru Vilciens runs the few remaining passenger services with about 100 EMU and about 30 DMU units of the type DR1. International trains are run by L-Ekspressis, another LDZ daughter. Only 257 km of track around the capital are electrified with 3 kV DC. A modest 33 km of narrow gauge network remains between Alüksne and Gulbene. It also used to be a part of the LDZ, but has now been organised into a separate entity called BO Gulbene-Alüksnes Bánitis. Other railroad (cargo) companies include for example BE, A/S Baltijas Ekspresis, which is especially active in some harbour areas and the BTS, A/S Baltics Tranzita Servicc, which is a daughter company of the Russian BaltTransServis, running oil and other cargo trains between Latvian harbours and Russia with 5 huge Russian 2M62 diesels. To the top of the page
If you are interested in Latvia, see these links too Locomotive types  2te116's,
Russian built double diesel monsters theme page...
TEP70,
heavy
Russian built passenger diesel...
Other Baltic Countries Estonia,
number
one of the Baltic countries Estoniua is still developing FAST! Lithuania,
the
country between 1520 and 1435 mm gauge worlds...Railfan tour reports in Baltia 4rail.net
fall
2007 highly popular report on railroads between Tallinn and Narva on
the eatern border of Estonia...Sources: Ilkka Siissalo, John McKey, Soviet Locomotives, , Lok Report Europa Reiseführer 2006-2007, Jahrbuch Europäische Eisenbahnen, general sources, ... | Best Viewed with Mozilla Firefox! Click the pictures to see the larger versions!  An Adazi unit train by LDZ, the Latvian Railways is hauled by a Russian built 2M62C number 0118. Pictures by Ilkka Siissalo 2007.  The 2M62's were one of the back bones of the transportation in Russia during the Soviet period. A number of these still remain in ex. Soviet territory and some are remanufactured to extend their service life before newer models become financially available for the LDZ.  Slow moving huge unit trains are typical to Baltic rail networks transporting Russian and Biela Russian originating raw and semimanufactured materials to Baltic ports for shipping. Here a string of typical Russian manufactured hoppers on their way to the Latvian harbor.  Well
preserved
beautiful Carnicava station just north of Riga flying Latvian national
colors. |
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