In mid-August, Kohila Municipality organized a discussion on Rail Baltica as part of the local Café Day event. Located directly on the Rail Baltica mainline, Kohila stands to gain significantly from the megaproject—both as a community and as a hub for local businesses.

Alongside local entrepreneurs and municipal representatives, the discussion featured Harri Aro from Rail Baltic Estonia and Tõnis Tamme from the Rail Baltica Business Network. Tamme noted that he was particularly struck by the positive attitude of local residents: “While elsewhere people often talk about NIMBY (‘not in my backyard’), in Kohila the mood was closer to FOMO—fear of missing out. The community is genuinely concerned about whether the benefits of this once-in-a-century railway project will truly reach them.”

The business perspective

  • Salutaguse Yeast Factory sees a realistic need for around 250 rail wagons of goods per year, which would replace today’s 10–15 truckloads per week. The factory consumes nearly 15,000 tons of raw materials annually, mostly from Panevėžys in Lithuania, while only 1% of its final products stay in Estonia—the rest are exported worldwide.
  • Ecobox, a packaging producer, is also ready to shift its weekly 10 truckloads onto rail. For the company, it is important that loading station solutions take smaller businesses into account, as container-only systems would not be suitable.

Future opportunities

The discussion highlighted Järvakandi as one potential location for a freight terminal, with Rapla also considered as an alternative. A dedicated junction at Kohila would create further growth opportunities. Since Kohila is viewed by the state as a priority industrial development area, the municipality and businesses should join forces and begin securing land reservations for future projects.

Although the current focus of Rail Baltica’s construction is completing the main line, new stops and sidings can be added later as business needs emerge. There is plenty of commercial potential, and it is worth laying the groundwork today for the opportunities of tomorrow.