The first movement of wild animals through an underground ecoduct has been recorded on the Switzerland–Žeimiai section in Lithuania, where the construction of the Rail Baltica high-speed railway line is nearing completion. According to environmentalists, this is one of the most modern solutions of this type in the country. The facility is located under a viaduct next to a broad-gauge railway and the 144 Jonava–Kėdainiai–Šiaduva highway. LTG Infra, the infrastructure operator of the LTG Group, regularly monitors fauna at construction sites.
The ecoduct was implemented without changing the course of the Lankesa River thanks to a high viaduct. Instead of the original plan to build a crossing in the field area, where animals do not migrate, specialists moved the project to the coastal zone, through which natural migration routes pass. A total of three animal passages were built on the 10-kilometer section: two for small and medium-sized animals and one large one, the first of its kind not only within Rail Baltica, but also on the scale of the whole of Lithuania. Even in fenced areas, such as the construction site of the bridge across the Neris, traces of elk, roe deer, hares and foxes have been recorded.
The entire ecological infrastructure of Rail Baltica – ecoducts, tunnels and “green bridges” – will be monitored for at least three years after the launch of traffic. In Lithuania, otters have been monitored in the Natura 2000 zone for the second year now, and it has been confirmed that the construction does not disturb their habitat. In the future, it is planned to develop biocorridors and natural solutions for adaptation to climate change throughout the three Baltic countries.