Jēkabpils passengers struggle to find seats on Daugavpils-Riga trains

Passengers travelling from Daugavpils to Riga on Sunday evenings often have to stand or sit on the floor, and the schedule will be adjusted to ease the pressure, LSM reports. The number of routes offering reserved seats is also expected to increase next year.

By the time the train reaches Krustpils station, a station on the route, it is often full. Passengers who board there crowd the aisles and doorways, while the number of people travelling increases at later stops. Regular passengers say seats are hard to find, particularly since the school year began.

The journey from Krustpils to Riga takes just under two hours. Some passengers sit on the floor or on steps by the doors; others say they have had to stand for the entire trip.

The service uses a three-car diesel train with 210 seats. Over the past four weeks, the number of tickets sold for each trip has been 10% to 35% higher than the number of seats. Not all passengers travel the full route, however, and the train’s maximum capacity is 658 people, according to figures from the passenger carrier Vivi.

Autotransporta direkcija representative Viktors Zaķis said standing passengers were not unusual on trains and that the minimum train formation was three cars.