The history of the small town of Kybartai began with the railway. In the 19th century, a branch line of the St. Petersburg-Warsaw railway was built to the border between the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire at Kybartai. This created a connection between the Prussian Eastern Railway and the Russian railway network. This is where the Russian broad gauge railway and the standard gauge met. This made the station, which opened in 1861, an important transshipment point where goods had to be reloaded from one train to another and passengers had to change trains. The town of Kybartai flourished as an important trade and transport hub.
Kybartai is still a border station today, located between Lithuania and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Rail traffic from Russia via Belarus and through Lithuania to Kaliningrad is of crucial importance to Russia, as there is no land route under its own control that connects Kaliningrad with the Russian heartland.
Today, there are no different track gauges at the Kybartai border crossing. After the Second World War, the Soviet Union also converted the railway network in today's Kaliningrad to the Russian broad gauge. Nevertheless, the station remains an important control point between Russia and the EU. The station itself is no longer accessible; large gates and barbed wire secure the site. A pedestrian bridge allows residents to cross the large track area to get to the other part of the town. Passengers traveling in transit are no longer allowed to get on or off trains at Lithuanian stations such as Kybartai. The Lithuanian border guard service carries out strict security, passport and goods checks, especially for goods that fall under EU sanctions.
Edita Markauskienė, managing director of a family business, has a restaurant and a hotel very close to the station. "We are not happy to have such neighbors nearby, but we feel safe because of the good work of the border guards” she explains. However, her business has not suffered from the travel restrictions on Russian citizens, as there are still Russian tourists.
The employment opportunities in Kybartai are limited, says Edita. Her parents founded a company over 30 years ago. "I'm now running it with my brother. The business started with meat trading and the production of sausage products." Today, the company includes a restaurant, a café, a hotel and a guest house. "We now have 25 employees," says the businesswoman with a certain pride. "The business must always continue to develop and adapt to the demand and needs of the customers." Edita says that they always have new ideas on how the business can continue to develop in Kybartai.
Despite all the challenges, being close to the border also has advantages for her business. Edita Markauskienė points to the many border workers as important customers and adds: "At the moment there are about 20 employees of the European Union border protection agency Frontex in Kybartai who live and eat in our hotel."
