Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 27
By Emil Ismayilov - Trend:
A section between Marabda and Kartsakhi stations was constructed in Georgia as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars (BTK) railway project, Azeryolservis JSC under the Azerbaijani Transport Ministry said Sept. 25.
Its subdivision is the contractor of three of the four stages of the railway line construction on the territory of Georgia.
The first three stages envisage the rehabilitation, reconstruction and construction operations at the BTK Marabda Tetritskaro section with a length of 29.2 kilometers, the Tetritskaro-Tsalka section (49.7 kilometers) and the Tsalka-Akhalkalaki section (74.1 kilometers).
The last phase of operations on the territory of Georgia envisages the construction of the railway section Akhalkalaki-Kartsakhi-border with Turkey with the length of 26.3 kilometer, a 4.5 kilometer section to Akhalkalaki station and a 156-meter railway bridge Qirbulag.
The work envisaged as part of the first phase and the main construction work as part of the second phase completed. Currently, the communication system, an alarm system, power supply, the buildings are being restored. The landscaping operations are underway.
The facilities, bridges and buildings were constructed as part of the third stage of the operations.
"More than 70 kilometers of railway have been laid for the past five months, which is a record for Georgia," the report says.
The total length of the railway tunnel on the border between Georgia and Turkey is 4,450 meters, of which 2,560 meters accounted for the territory of Turkey. The tunnel has already been constructed in Turkey, the report said.
The length of the Georgian section of the tunnel is 2,070 meters. Around 960 meters of the tunnel have been laid.
The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway is being constructed on the basis of the Georgian-Azerbaijani-Turkish inter-state agreement.
Azerbaijan has allocated a loan worth $ 775 million for construction of the Georgian section. SOFAZ finances the project in accordance with the decree of the President of Azerbaijan 'On the implementation of the activities of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project' dated February 21, 2007.
It is planned to construct a new 105-kilometer branch of the railroad as part of the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project. In addition, the railway's Akhalkalaki-Tbilisi-Marabda section will be reconstructed in Georgia, which will increase its capacity to 15 million tons of cargo per year. It is planned to build a post in Akhalkalaki for the transition of trains from the existing tracks in Georgia to the European ones.
The railway is planned to be commissioned in 2015.
Peak capacity of the corridor will be 17 million tons of cargo. This figure will be at the level of one million passengers and 6.5 million tons of cargo at the initial stage.