The terminal will be used for transferring cargo from and to trains with different track gauges - presumably for trade with Russia. The terminal is predicted to be 150 hectares large, said Niks Balodis, leader of a local business association.
Logistics and other transit companies could do business near this terminal. But for the existing businesses it's important to retain the current railroad access structure, and perhaps create new access points, said Balodis.
Kaspars Vingris of the Transport Ministry said that AECOM is currently working on the Salaspils terminal to create technical solutions for a multi-modal logistics center. The details will be worked out according to the local and regional logistics situation in Latvia, the Baltics and globally.
German companies in on the plans have said that they're eager to collaborate once the center is ready, said Vingris.
The consensus about how the center is to operate, what tasks it'll have to accomplish and how municipalities and privately owned businesses will partake in the project.
Although currently there are plans only for a cargo terminal in Salaspils, Neils Balgalis, the spatial planning expert for Rail Baltica Latvia said that other logistics centers could be built in cities like Iecava, Bauska, Vangaži and Skulte. These plans could be put into motion in the next 15-40 years.
Rail Baltica is a proposed high-speed line to link Helsinki with Berlin through the Baltic capitals by 2024.
