FINLAND: The Kouvola Rail & Road Terminal has been completed, roughly equidistant from the Russian border and the port of Helsinki and near to the ports of Hamina and Kotka.
The terminal has been developed by the city of Kouvola, which says it is Finland’s first dry port and first road and rail terminal on the TEN-T network.
The 42 ha site has a container handling capacity of 150 00 TEU/year. There are two 1 100 m long 1 524 mm gauge loading tracks avoiding the need to divide trains and suitable for 25 tonne axleloads.
The terminal is open to all operators. It is managed by the Railgate Finland Ltd subsidiary of the city-owned Kouvola Innovation, while the railway tracks are owned by national transport infrastructure manager Väylävirasto.
The intention during development had been that the terminal would be used by Eurasian freight services. The city said ‘the prevailing global situation’ has changed flows of goods such as wood, but the terminal can function as an extension of Finland’s harbours and provide additional storage space which is currently needed.
Construction cost €34m, below the original budget of €40m. The city provided €23·6m, the EU €6·8m and the national government €3·5m.
Extensive use was made of recycled materials. ‘Construction costs were reduced by about €4m under the budget for the works the city is responsible for’, said Project Manager Tero Valtonen on January 31. ’Such a great result was achieved through co-operation, in which the project’s construction consultant played a significant role. And the know-how of the city’s technical professionals cannot be underestimated, especially in the field of sustainable construction.’
