TODAY.AZ / Business

New passenger cars purchased for Baku-Tbilisi-Kars

26 January 2015 [14:17] - TODAY.AZ

/By AzerNews/

By Amina Nazarli

Azerbaijani Railways will receive new passenger cars for Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail line, the company reported.

In June 2014, Azerbaijani Railways signed a contract with “Stadler” company to purchase 30 new passenger rail cars. The new cars will be fitted to the automatic transition of pair wheels for movement on the European railway track.

The new railway, which will connect Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey together is planned to be opened by late 2015. That’s why the passenger cars should be delivered by this time, the source said.

“We don't know yet when the cars will be ready. However, we will need time for their testing and development,” the source say.

The company reported that all work is underway regarding to the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars rail line. New rail links will be released as scheduled.

Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed based on the Georgia-Azerbaijan-Turkish interstate agreement. The project is funded by the Azerbaijani State Oil Foundation in accordance with the country’s head decree on “Realization of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project” since February 21, 2007.

As part of the project, a new 105 km branch of the railway line is being constructed currently.

Moreover, the Akhalkalaki-Marabda -Tbilisi railway section is reconstructed which increases its capacity up to 15 million tons of cargo per a year.

A post transferring trains from a track in Georgia to Europe is being constructed in Akhalkalaki.

The project is expected to be finished in 2015. And the launch of the first test train is planned by the end of the year.

The capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons per year. At the initial stage, the figure will be one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway line is effective from an economic point of view. It is stable, and fully complies with environmental standards. It means the beginning of a new stage in the transport development.

This railway line will expand the multi-modal transportation opportunities and ensure the growth of passenger and freight transportation.

Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have shown their interest in the project.

Earlier, Ziya Mammadov, Transport Minister said that after the third year of operation, the projected volume of cargo under the railway line will be three million tons, while after the fifth year - five million tons and after its tenth year the amount of cargo will constitute more than 10 million tons.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/business/138447.html

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