Baku, Azerbaijan, June 9
By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:
The first cargo train from India to Russia passing through the territory of Azerbaijan will be launched in late August 2016 as part of the North-South Project, Javid Gurbanov, head of the Azerbaijan Railways CJSC, told reporters in Baku June 9.
"The freight train will take off from India's Mumbai city, then it will be transported by ferry to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas in late August," he added. "Then by railway the train will arrive in Iran's Rasht city."
Gurbanov added that the goods will be transshipped to trucks in Rasht city and delivered to Azerbaijan's Astara city. Gurbanov also stressed that then the cargo will be delivered to Moscow by railway from Astara city.
"This multimodal transportation will be carried out together with the railways of Azerbaijan and Russia," he said.
The agreement among Russia, Iran and India on the North-South International Transport Corridor was signed in Saint Petersburg (Russia) on September 12, 2000. Azerbaijan joined the agreement in September 2005.
North-South International Transport Corridor will link Northern Europe and South-East Asia. It will serve as a bridge to connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia.
The North-South transportation corridor is meant to connect the Northern Europe with South-Eastern Asia. It will serve as a link for connecting the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia. The corridor is planned to transport five million tons of cargo a year in the first phase and over 10 million tons of cargo in the future.
Gurbanov also said that two cargo trains, which will become part of the international railway project 'Viking', will be sent to the Georgian port of Poti from China through the territory of Azerbaijan in late July - early August 2016.
He said that major logistics company DHL will be involved in cargo transportation.
"Two trains will be sent from China to Kazakhstan's Dostyk station in late July-early August 2016," Gurbanov said. "From there, the trains will arrive in the Georgian port of Poti via the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route, that is, across the sea and the territory of Azerbaijan."
"There the cargo will be distributed according to its destination," he added. "Some part of the cargo will be sent to the Baltic countries within the route of international railway project 'Viking'."
The piggyback 'Viking' train project was launched in 2003. The project's participants are Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria. Later, Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey joined the project. The total length of the Ilyichevsk (Ukraine)-Minsk (Belarus)-Draugyste (Lithuania) route is 1,766 kilometers.
In February 2016, Ukraine and Lithuania signed a memorandum on the accession of the container train 'Viking' to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route from Europe to China through Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan.