Azerbaijan Railways, Stadler agree on expending cooperation

By Laman Ismayilova

The state-owned rail transport operator Azerbaijan Railways and Switzerland’s Stadler Rail AG, a manufacturer of railway rolling stock, have agreed to expand the cooperation.

The agreement was reached during a meeting of Chairman of Azerbaijan Railways CJSC Javid Gurbanov and Stadler President Peter Spuhler, the Azerbaijani side reported.

Azerbaijan Railways didn’t specify the directions in which the two sides are planning to expand their cooperation.

The parties also discussed the implementation of the project to construct the sleeping type cars ordered from Stadler, to be put into operation on the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish intergovernmental agreement.

Azerbaijan ordered 30 Stadler cars for use on the BTK, the commissioning of which is planned for 2017.

Azerbaijan Railways awarded the contract to Stadler for the delivery of 30 sleeping cars in 2014. The contract allowed Stadler to successfully enter the railway market in Azerbaijan.

The contract is not only about the delivery of the cars between the middle of 2016 and the middle of 2017, but also includes an extensive spare-part package and the training of staff that will operate and maintain the vehicles. In addition, the contract also includes an option for 70 more units. Azerbaijan Railways will create three 10-car trainsets from the 30 coaches. The order includes the delivery of 27 sleeping- and 3 dining cars.

The sleeping cars built for Azerbaijan railways were presented I November 2016. The cars are able to operate both in the CIS states (broad gauge 1520 mm) and on European standard gauge (1435 mm) due to the special gauge-changing bogies. Close to the Turkish border in the Georgian town of Akhalkalaki, a break-of-gauge is planned for switching bogies to enable efficient operation on the international Baku – Tbilisi – Kars – Istanbul line.