A new system of adapting railway cars to the different European track gauges is currently being installed along the Polish-Lithuanian border.

A new system of adapting railway cars to the different European track gauges is currently being installed along the Polish-Lithuanian border, which should speed cargo and passenger traffic, Rzeczpospolita reported Wednesday. The new line will also bypass Belarus, cutting down time for settling border and customs formalities and saving passengers the need to obtain Belarussian visas. Standard western European railway track has a width of 1.435 meters (4.708 feet), but in the countries of the former Soviet Union the standard gauge is 1.520 meters (4.987 feet), requiring wheels to be changed on railway cars or cargo be transshipped. A new section of track has been installed at the Moskawa border post between Poland and Lithuania that allows specially designed railway cars to gradually shift gauge, the newspaper reported. The new system, called the SUW 2000 and similar to the DB Rafil V used in Germany, should be ready for passenger traffic beginning October 1. Only a few minutes are to be saved on the 10 hour trip between Warsaw and Vilnius initially as the new route adds 150 kilometers (93 miles), much of it on track that needs improvement.