Lithuania starts construction of NATO rail hub at Palemonas
MILITARY MOBILITY: Lithuania is building a EUR 37m dual-gauge terminal near Kaunas that will transfer NATO military cargo between European standard gauge and the broad-gauge network running north to Latvia, Estonia and the port of Klaipėda.
Construction started at Palemonas with a ceremony attended by Lithuania’s transport and defence ministers. The terminal is co-funded by the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) and the Lithuanian state budget, with completion set within 16 months.
The facility is designed to support the German brigade’s deployment and supply chain in Lithuania — the first permanent German brigade to be based abroad since the Second World War.
Gauge interface at the heart of NATO logistics
Europe’s standard-gauge network runs at 1,435 mm. The Baltic states inherited Soviet-era broad gauge at 1,520 mm. Where the two networks meet, cargo must transfer between wagon types — or the wagons themselves must be re-bogieed. Without a dedicated terminal, that transfer is slow, constrained by general freight handling capacity and not configured for military loads.
Palemonas is purpose-built for the interface. The terminal will sit on Lithuania’s existing broad-gauge corridor and accept standard-gauge inbound traffic, allowing military equipment and supplies to move onto the network serving Latvia, Estonia and Klaipėda — Lithuania’s main Baltic Sea port and a primary NATO resupply entry point.
German brigade as the immediate driver
The German brigade being permanently stationed in Lithuania is the most operationally demanding supply chain the Baltic network has yet faced. A standing force requires continuous logistics — fuel, ammunition, equipment, personnel rotation — at volumes and frequencies that exercise-based deployments do not require.
Palemonas reduces the transfer bottleneck on that chain. EUR 13.3m comes from the EU’s Connecting Europe Facility; the remainder of the EUR 37.4m total has not been publicly itemised.
Construction is due to complete within 16 months.