Date of commencement of passenger transportation by BTK railway announced

By  Trend

The transportation of passengers by Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway is planned to begin in 3Q2019, the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC said in a statement.

The company stated that, to this end, the new railcars of the Swiss Stadler company will be delivered in Azerbaijan in 1Q2019.

"The delivery of 10 new railcars has been scheduled for the first stage, the delivery of another 10 railcars has been scheduled for the second stage.," said the company.

In addition, the company stated that, since the start of commissioning of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway, about 3,000 containers were transported along this railroad.

"Building materials, electrical equipment, detergents, grain and other goods from China, Central Asia, Russia, and Azerbaijan are mainly transported along this railroad to Turkey and in the opposite direction," the company said.

The Azerbaijani Railways company also noted that the countries other than Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey along the BTK railway, have high expectations with regard to this rail route. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway will play an important role in increasing the transit potential of these countries.

On October 30, 2017, a solemn ceremony on the occasion of the opening of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway was held at the Baku International Sea Trade Port.

The BTK railway is built on the basis of the Azerbaijani-Georgian-Turkish intergovernmental agreement. At the initial stage, the volume of freight traffic will be at the level of 6.5 million tons of cargo, as well as up to one million passengers will be transported through this railway.